NASHVILLE — The Justice Department is pushing to revive criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, telling a federal appeals court late Monday that a judge erred in his scathing ruling that called the case against the man mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison an “abuse of prosecuting power.”

The government is appealing the May ruling by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw that threw out charges of human smuggling against the Salvadoran national. The ruling amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a Justice Department that under President Trump has repeatedly been accused of targeting defendants for political purposes.

Crenshaw found that Abrego Garcia would never have faced criminal charges had he not successfully sued the government over his 2025 deportation. The ruling was an embarrassment for the Trump administration, which only brought him back after securing a criminal indictment against him.

Crenshaw stopped short of finding the government acted with “actual vindictiveness,” a rarely-met standard that usually requires evidence such as a prosecutor admitting that charges were filed in retaliation against someone. But the judge did find there was enough evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness.”

That included the timing of the indictment. Homeland Security had been aware of the 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee that was the basis for the human smuggling charges for more than two years before Abrego Garcia was deported. The agency only reopened the case and began investigating in earnest after Abrego Garcia was ordered returned to the U.S.

Crenshaw also found that statements by U.S. Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche, who was a deputy at the time, suggested the Justice Department was targeting Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful-deportation case.

In a brief filed Monday night with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, federal prosecutors argued that Crenshaw got it wrong. Blanche’s statements, they argue, demonstrated a legitimate motive for prosecuting him. His rationale reflected a “normal assessment of the societal interest in punishment,” not an “improper penalty,” they said. The statements “explained that the government was seeking to protect the public and confirm its prior assertions about Abrego’s criminal activity,” the brief states.

But even if Blanche’s statements reflected an animus against Abrego Garcia, they are irrelevant because the person who actually brought the charges was then-Acting U.S. Atty. for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire, the brief states — rehashing an argument thoroughly rejected by Crenshaw that McGuire’s motives were the only motives that mattered in the case.

Crenshaw’s ruling noted the sustained oversight of the case by top Justice Department officials, including regular communications between McGuire and Associate Deputy Atty. Gen. Aakash Singh, in finding that the criminal case was thoroughly tainted. Crenshaw also noted that prosecutors never called as a witness the investigator who actually reopened the case, to explain why.

Abrego Garcia, 31, is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years, although he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. A 2019 order by an immigration judge prohibited his deportation to El Salvador, finding he had a “well founded fear” of a gang that had targeted his family there. The judge allowed him to live and work in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision, but he was not given residency status.

Blocked from re-deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, the Trump administration has vowed to deport him to a third county, threatening to send him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and, most recently, Liberia. Abrego Garcia has said he would agree to be deported to Costa Rica, which has said it will accept him, but the government has so far declined to send him there.

He is fighting deportation to Liberia in a separate federal court case in Maryland.

Loller writes for the Associated Press.

Betfred Super League

Hull KR (14) 28

Tries: Lewis, Lawton, Hadley, Pangai Jr Goals: Martin, Mourgue 5

Warrington Wolves (10) 34

Tries: Hopoate 2, Bentley, Sipley, Byrne, Williams Goals: Irwin 5

George Williams scored his first try since returning from neck surgery to help Warrington Wolves beat defending Super League champions Hull KR and close the gap on the competition’s top two.

England half-back Williams, who spent almost four months out after sustaining the injury against Catalans Dragons in April, went over for the match-defining try in their rearranged fixture against the Robins – having returned to action just five days earlier against York.

Williams’ score came before Mikey Lewis again found himself in trouble for Hull KR, with the influential half-back – who was making his first appearance after completing a four-game ban – sin-binned for a dangerous attempt to block a kick late on.

Earlier, quickfire Lewis and Karl Lawton tries just before the break put Hull KR 14-10 ahead, after well-worked scores from Albert Hopoate and James Bentley looked to have had Wolves heading into the break with a slender lead.

Toafofoa Sipley scored immediately after the interval to reclaim the advantage for the visitors and, while Arthur Mourgue landed a penalty to level things up, an Ewan Irwin kick, Liam Byrne’s try on his 27th birthday, Williams’ finish and stunning second score from Hopoate proved enough to seal a statement win for Sam Burgess’ side.

Late scores from Dean Hadley and Tevita Pangai Jr did little more than add respectability to the scoreline for the Robins after being outplayed at home.

More to follow.

Hull KR: Mourgue; Davies, Hiku, Broadbent, Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, Litten, Hadley, Whitbread, Martin, Minchella.

Interchanges: Amone, Luckley, Lawton, Pangai Jr.

Warrington Wolves: J Thewlis; Hopoate, Lindop, King, Ashton; Williams, Irwin; Byrne, Walker, Harrison, Bentley, Stone, Currie.

Interchanges: Tanginoa, Sipley, Wood, Crowther.

Referee: Liam Moore.

Concern over the security of Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been rife since Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine nearly five years ago.

A drone strike close to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in occupied southeastern Ukraine has killed one nuclear specialist and wounded 17, according to Russian reports.

Moscow asserted on Tuesday that the drone was launched by Ukraine. The security of Europe’s biggest nuclear plant has provoked significant global concern amid the full-scale war on Ukraine that Russia launched in February 2022.

Most of those injured by the strike were employees of the plant, according to a Telegram update by the Russian management of the nuclear facility. It asserted that the attack constituted one of the most serious incidents in the plant’s history.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier confirmed reports that the strike hit staff members at a bus stop.

“No nuclear safety or security damage was reported,” the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said on social media.

However, it called “on military commanders responsible for these actions as well as all others aiming on nuclear power plants and/or their staff to put an immediate stop to these unacceptable actions”, citing the “great risks to nuclear safety”.

The Zaporizhzhia plant was seized by Russian forces a month after Moscow launched its invasion. The facility has been under Russian management since.

The safety of the plant – and the potential consequences of a hit amid the hostilities – have been a concern since the start of the war.

Zaporizhzhia’s six reactors can produce nearly six gigawatts of electricity, and the plant was crucial to supplying power to Ukraine’s national grid. All of the reactors have been shut down since Russia captured the plant, but a strike could cause damage and potentially cause serious leaks of radioactive material.

Tuesday’s strike came ahead of a scheduled visit by IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi to assess nuclear safety. It’s not clear if that visit will still take place.

A Russian strike on a thermal power plant was reported in central Ukraine a few hours later, forcing a halt to operations, according to DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy provider and the company that operates the plant.

No casualties were reported, but DTEK stated on social media that the attack caused “significant damage to equipment”.

Russia has attacked the company’s thermal plants 230 times since the start of the war, according to DTEK’s Telegram channel, as it wages a campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

ZZ Top is mourning the loss of longtime drummer Frank Beard, who has died at age 77 after years of facing health-related issues.

The band announced Beard’s death on Tuesday via Instagram, with founding member and frontman Billy Gibbons writing in a statement that he and fellow member Elwood Francis “lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas.”

The Fort Bend County Medical Examiner confirmed to The Times that Beard’s death was reported Monday. A cause of death was not revealed. He died at his ranch in Texas with family by his side after a stay in hospice, TMZ reported.

Beard died weeks after ZZ Top called off its Aug. 5 concert at the Hollywood Bowl, reportedly due to his health issues. In March 2025, the Texas trio also shared that Beard would temporarily step away from the band’s Elevation tour to address a separate health issue, later revealed to be foot and ankle problems. The veteran drummer had also missed shows because of an emergency appendectomy in 2002.

ZZ Top said in Tuesday’s announcement that its concerts in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs have been canceled in the wake of Beard’s death. The band will continue its The Big One! tour this weekend, including two shows at Austin City Limits, which it said had become one of “Frank’s favorite venues in a city that had been something of a second home” for the drummer.

Beard joined ZZ Top in 1969, soon after the band formed, replacing founding drummer Dan Mitchell.

Times staff writer Andrea Flores contributed to this report.

The interim government is still upset that the coverage of the disaster’s aftermath showed its faults in plain sight. So, it was answered by a manufactured lie. The State media system released a short “documentary” titled “Autopsy of a Lie”, claiming that the negligence in the official response to the June 24^th earthquakes is just a false narrative pushed by the media. 

In a fact-checking analysis to debunk it, Cazadores de Fake News reports the interim government is fishing to isolate quotes from the UN and the US officers as proof that the international community praised a State response “that existed, but was perceived by large parts of the affected population as insufficient.”

The propaganda effort to turn around the domestic and global backlash on the State’s reaction to the earthquakes merged with the officially-launched “reconstruction phase,” with both the Venezuela Reborn Plan and the accompanying economic assistance in the form of credits. However, the regime is not only trying to save its face, but using the earthquakes as a subject to focus attention on how they want to be seen, and remove it from where they don’t want eyes. 

The disaster made its entrance into the dialogue talks between delegations of the 2015 National Assembly (picked by the Trump administration) and the interim government: when announcing the start of the first round of talks on August 1st, “attention to the double earthquake” was not only put on the agenda, but placed at the top. “Strengthening of democracy” and “political rights and guarantees”, the issues that many see as the core reason for this process in the first place, were put as second and third, respectively.

On August 12, the first round of talks ended with a couple of agreements: the first one was a joint effort to recover the gold reserves held by the UK in the Bank of England for the quake’s recovery. This one seems like a confirmation of what Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said back on July 30, that one of the main positions of the government’s delegation during the dialogue talks was the lifting of most of the economic sanctions still in place.

“These are not times for polarization to insist; these are not times for miserly exploitation, these are times to lend a hand. And we’ll see that the biggest comfort to the pain that afflicts our souls is the rebirth,” Jorge Rodríguez said on July 24.

The second one was the beginning of a process that could eventually lead to the renovation of the Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ), seen as the first concrete step toward establishing a new electoral authority in the near future, a major achievement that cannot be underestimated. 

The introduction of the seismic disaster in the talks’ agenda might signal to the chavista base that the regime is controlling the matter, and looking to compensate for any other concessions made. 

On the other hand, what happened on June 24 could serve as a plausible pretext to avoid necessary reforms or flexibilize restrictions that Venezuelans have struggled with for many years is understandable for some, as economist Ricardo Hausmann told last month to Forbes Centroamérica:

“What happened in Venezuela is a human and economic tragedy… But the biggest risk is that the earthquake could become an excuse to continue depriving Venezuelans of their rights.”

This brings another aspect to consider: the open use of the tragedy for political messaging.

It’s normal that in times when a nation suffers some sort of calamity, that a response by those in power is to rally around national unity in times of crisis. This also happened in Venezuela after June 24, with both Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez repeatedly making public calls in that regard.

For example, Jorge Rodriguez said on July 24 in commemoration of the quakes’ first month: “These are not times for polarization to insist; these are not times for miserly exploitation, these are times to lend a hand. And we’ll see that the biggest comfort to the pain that afflicts our souls is the rebirth.” The use of the last word isn’t casual, as it was already in use for several weeks in State media and came a couple of weeks before the actual reconstruction plan was introduced.

But given the precedents when chavismo used this kind of messaging before, this is likely less targeted to the overall citizenry at large and instead focused on holding their internal coalition together. This has worked well with the higher echelons of power structures but for certain parts of the larger chavista movement, this message rings hollow in the wake of the cozy relation between the regime and the Trump administration. And they’re making themselves noticed.

They’re already doing that with the most pressing issue in most parts of the country: the electric crisis, which in the last week saw an increase in both the length of blackouts and the power bill.

On June 28, a group of former chavista officials (including former Vice-President Elias Jaua) signed a document titled “Declaration of Maracay” under the name Voices For National Independence, demanding the defense of national sovereignty and the Constitution, in response to “the situation of tutelage the country currently faces. The text called for a “wider national unity”. Early this month, there was a public demonstration in Caracas echoing those very same points.

After a month and half since the disaster, the interim government remains committed to navigating the next few months by using it as a narrative device that could help them weather the surging amount of problems ahead but exposing at length some of its previous failures. At the moment, they’re already doing that with the most pressing issue in most parts of the country: the electric crisis, which in the last week saw an increase in both the length of blackouts and the power bill.

The governors of Aragua and Carabobo pointed at the damage caused by the June 24 quakes to the electricity generation system as one of the reasons behind it. Diosdado Cabello made the same talking point a few days later, while also blaming the Súper Niño event.

As the State is adjusting the effects of the disaster into other issues, public opinion is putting the magnifying glass on its handling of the doublet earthquake. Neighboring Colombia recently suffered a terrible seismic event of its own, but comparisons between how the two nations and their respective governments responded soon started to appear.

The Chargers were bitten by the injury bug Tuesday during a joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers in El Segundo.

Center Tyler Biadasz went down hard after 49ers defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez fell on his left leg during an 11-on-11 drill. Biadasz, who was unable to put weight on his left leg, was carted off the field and visibly upset.

“Obviously praying for the best,” Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert said. “I don’t know exactly what happened. And I haven’t heard the report back. But hoping for the best for him.”

Biadasz was replaced by rookie offensive lineman Jake Slaughter, who is among the candidates to play left guard.

“Yeah, man, that hurt me,” Slaughter said. “He’s been nothing but a wonderful mentor. He’s been such a good leader in the room, helping me see the big picture better. We’re hoping and praying he’s in a good spot, and it’s nothing serious.”

Outside linebacker Kyle Kennard exited practice with a trainer after limping off the field.

Wide receiver Quentin Johnston limped to the sideline after attempting a leaping catch. It appeared to be a lower-body injury, and trainers worked on him afterward.

The Chargers have consistently endured devastating injuries over the years.

And it seems there’s a good chance they’ll be shorthanded at SoFi Stadium during Week 2 of preseason play against the 49ers.

“I take it as a blessing that I can help the team in any way that I can,” Slaughter said about potentially starting at center if Biadasz is sidelined for an extended period of time.

Judge previously found US government brought charges against Abrego Garcia as retaliation for case that embarrassed it.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump is seeking to revive criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man whose wrongful deportation became a source of embarrassment for US immigration authorities.

The US Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court late on Monday to throw out a previous ruling by a judge that slammed the administration’s prosecution of Abrego Garcia as a form of political retaliation.

In his May ruling, US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw found the government’s efforts to bring criminal charges against Abrego Garcia to be an “abuse of prosecuting power”.

Federal prosecutors argued in a brief filed with the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals that Crenshaw’s ruling was flawed in a push to revive criminal charges the Trump administration brought against Abrego Garcia after being forced to return him to the US.

The Salvadoran national was brought back to the US after the government admitted that it had wrongfully deported him to El Salvador, where he was held in a detention facility that was operated by the Salvadoran government and that was notorious for abusive conditions and alleged use of torture.

The Trump administration initially fought efforts to return the 31-year-old Abrego Garcia to the US, even after admitting that he had been wrongfully deported despite a 2019 order from an immigration judge that he had a “well-founded fear” of being targeted in El Salvador.

The administration then filed criminal charges against Abrego Garcia when he arrived back in the US, accusing him of human trafficking.

Crenshaw found that there was evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness” on the part of the US government and that the charges would not have been brought if Abrego Garcia’s case had not been a public setback for the government.

Abrego Garcia has previously said that he is willing to agree to be deported to Costa Rica. But the Trump administration has instead fought to have him deported to the African nation of Liberia, to which he has no connection and where he would be far from friends and family.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is repositioning one of its AH-64 Apache squadrons from Ramon Air Base in the Negev to Ramat David Air Base in northern Israel, bringing a portion of the service’s attack helicopter force significantly closer to the Lebanese and Syrian fronts. The AH-64 has been of central importance in recent IAF operations, and the shift makes the relatively small Apache fleet better positioned for rapid-response missions, including greater persistence over the northern battlefield.

The IAF announced today that 190 “Magic Touch” Squadron would be transferring its aircraft from Ramon to Ramat David, the northernmost IAF base. This would involve increased aircraft activity in the country’s skies, but that there was no security concern. The unit currently operates the older AH-64A, known locally as Peten (python), which the IAF began to receive in 1990.

The IAF began to establish an attack helicopter force in response to the lessons of the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, particularly the need to counter large-scale enemy armored formations. Over the following decades, its role evolved from that of a dedicated tank-hunting force into a precision-strike capability able to engage a much broader range of threats, including irregular and guerrilla forces operating among civilian populations.

In the past, the IAF attack helicopter force comprised three frontline squadrons: 160 “First Attack Helicopter” Squadron, operating the AH-1, was at Palmachim, near Tel Aviv, while Ramon hosted the “Magic Touch” Squadron and 113 “Hornet” Squadron operating the newer AH-64D Saraf (serpent), which arrived in 2005.

When it arrived in Israel, the AH-64D (sometimes designated AH-64D-I) was one of the most advanced attack helicopters in the world. It combined the mission system of the U.S. Army AH-64D Apache Longbow, including its mast-mounted AN/APG-78 Longbow radar, with Israeli avionics. Among these are a Rafael voice communications and data suite (RAVNET 300) and Elta 1891 satellite communications (with prominent bulbous antennas carried on the outer parts of the stub wings). The locally developed mission management system is the Elbit HELICOM suite which provides a real-time overview of the battlefield. Finally, the Elisra Seraph self-protection suite includes an SPS-65 missile warning receiver and an SPJ-40 radar jammer as well as Elbit Rokar countermeasures dispensers.

After the Saraf entered IAF service, the fleet was subsequently expanded through the conversion of older AH-64A airframes to a similar standard.

The AH-64A upgrade also added an optional under-fuselage avionics pod, something that you can read about in more detail here.

Located near Haifa, Ramat David Air Base is one of the most historic in Israel. It was formerly operated by the U.K. Royal Air Force and was involved in combat from the very beginning of Israeli independence. Flying a succession of different fighters and fighter-bombers, units operating from the base were active in every major conflict that followed, including the Sinai campaign, the June 1967 Six-Day War, and the October 1973 War, when its squadrons fought over the Syrian and Lebanese fronts. Due to its proximity to Lebanon, Ramat David has played a major role in different campaigns fought in that country, starting in 1982.

Before the arrival of the “Magic Touch” Squadron, Ramat David was primarily an F-16 hub, with three squadrons flying the F-16C/D. These units have played a central role in Israeli air operations on the northern front, including operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

As for Ramon Air Base in the south, its history dates back to the early 1980s, when it was established in the Negev as part of the reorganization of IAF infrastructure following the withdrawal from Sinai under the peace treaty with Egypt. Ramon has been home to fighters and attack jets, including F-16s and A-4s.

Since the 2000s, Ramon has been a principal base for some of the most advanced IAF combat aircraft. As well as the AH-64D, it is home to three of the four F-16I Sufa squadrons. It is also understood to be the home of the secretive Israeli drone, referred to as RA-01 and used for covert missions. You can read more about that here.

Moving an AH-64 squadron from Ramon to Ramat David reflects a shift in the IAF’s priorities toward the northern front. Ramat David places the helicopters significantly closer to Lebanon and Syria, reducing transit times and allowing more of their limited endurance to be spent over the battlefield. This is particularly valuable for rapid-response missions and close air support, where the Apache’s sensors and precision weapons can provide immediate support to ground forces.

As detailed in our deep dive on the IDF’s air defenses, Israeli AH-64s have also been extensively used in counter-drone operations. Their flexibility and ability to operate at low speeds make them well suited to engaging certain types of unmanned aircraft, while their Hellfire missiles can be employed in an unconventional air-to-air role for this mission. Bearing in mind the threat posed by drones launched from Lebanon and Syria, this factor may also have played into the relocation.

An IDF video purportedly showing an Israeli AH-64 intercepting an Iranian UAV that crossed into Israeli territory:

Iranian UAV Intercepted by an Israeli Helicopter

In fact, there is a historical precedent for the move. Ahead of the June 1982 Lebanon War, the “Magic Touch” Squadron was transferred from Ramon to Ramat David to reduce the distance to its principal operational theater along the Lebanese border. Once again, between 1990 and 1995, the same squadron again flew its MD500 Defenders from Ramat David.

The new relocation also disperses the IAF’s relatively small Apache fleet between its northern and southern fronts, improving readiness at the cost of concentrating fewer helicopters at Ramon. It is worth noting that, at the time of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, only four Israeli AH-64s were actually on standby across the entire country. Two of these were on so-called short standby for potential deployment to the northern border within minutes, with the other two on long standby for the same area, meaning they would take longer to get into action. In total, the IAF has a fleet of around 48 AH-64s of both versions.

As of now, Israeli forces are no longer involved in a full-scale ground offensive on the northern front. However, they maintain a very active forward-defense posture, still hold positions in southern Lebanon, and limited ground operations continue. So, too, do airtrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure.

Separately, Israel maintains positions in Syria, in the former UN buffer zone and parts of Quneitra and western Daraa, while continuing raids and airstrikes in southern Syria. Only today, Israel reportedly struck Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase in the northwest, reportedly damaging the runway and storage facilities.

Time will tell how the long-term IAF Apache force looks. In January of this year, the U.S. State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of 30 of the latest AH-64E Apaches and related equipment for an estimated cost of $3.8 billion. Israel might not take up all of those aircraft, but the Apache is currently central to its future plans.

Even before October 7, the IAF had been pushing to acquire another 40 of the AH-64E versions, after apparently concluding that an earlier plan to bolster its attack fleet by replacing the older AH-64As with armed drones was not feasible. This is a notably interesting development at a time in which other AH-64 customers are rethinking the value of the attack helicopter in general, due to questions about their survivability on the modern battlefield.

The transfer of an AH-64 squadron to Ramat David underscores the IAF’s growing emphasis on the northern front and the Apache’s expanding role beyond traditional anti-armor missions. By positioning the helicopters closer to Lebanon and Syria, the move should improve their responsiveness and endurance over the battlefield while giving the IAF greater flexibility in addressing a wider range of emerging threats.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

In 2007, the actor Felicia Day debuted “The Guild,” one of the first works, maybe the first, to demonstrate that the web could be a legitimate platform for full-blown, character-driven, narrative comedy. (YouTube was only two years old at the time.)

Online since there was a line to be on, Day — also known also for “Supernatural,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Eureka,” “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and as the female lead in Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion — played Cyd, a.k.a. Codex, a young woman at loose ends who finds community with a group of gamers whose quirkiness puts her own into perspective. The series, which she created and wrote, from experience, grew more ambitious and technically impressive across its six seasons, with cameos by the likes of Fillion, Zachary Levi, Stan Lee, Brent Spiner, late Mythbuster Grant Imahara and Wil Wheaton. There was a cultural specificity to the setting and storytelling — lots of gaming jargon and jokes — but the humor in the characters was universal, and the show, for all its well-proportioned silliness, felt very alive.

Now, as the series’ 20th anniversary approaches, Day is reviving “The Guild” as a feature, “The Guild: Ren Faire’d,” through a Kickstarter campaign due to end Friday. By the time I pledged, early on the first day of fundraising, the campaign had already met its initial $1.5-million goal — the minimum required, Day calculated, to pull off a version of her script. As of this writing, with just a few days to go, the campaign has raised more than $5 million. Everything over $4.5 million will go to making the film even better, but also support “Conludo,” a new game-playing series with Wheaton along the lines of their “Table Top,” created in 2012 for the Day-founded YouTube channel Geek & Sundry.

Day is also the author of a charming memoir, “You’re Never Weird on the Internet,” and a mental exercise book, “Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity.” Earlier this year, Simon & Schuster published “The Lost Daughter of Sparta,” her graphic novel (with illustrator Rowan MacColl) about Philonoe, Helen of Troy’s lesser-known fourth sister, an on-brand tale of self-determination and embrace of one’s difference.

I interviewed Day by email as she traveled the convention circuit.

Day’s Kickstarter surpassed $5 million, allowing her to make not only “The Guild: Ren Faire’d” but also a new game-playing series. (Parker Burr / For The Times)

How does it feel to be back wearing, or about to wear, the character of Codex?

It’s so empowering to go back to this world that I crafted and this character that means so much to me and my fans. She and I have diverged a lot over the years, but her voice is still strong and clear in my ear, and I’ve had so much fun writing for her again. I haven’t been in charge of my own stories on this scale in a long time, so this all definitely feels like coming home.

It was an offer to turn “The Guild” into a television show that prompted you to get the film going. Had you thought of the possibility of bringing it back before then?

Early in 2025, I’d been thinking about the 20th anniversary of the show and how to celebrate it, but a movie is a huge project, one I was wary of committing to. A phone call with a very nice Hollywood executive wanting me to reboot the show with younger actors was the kick in the pants I needed. The business has been so hard on me, and a lot of people, especially these last five or so years. To even think about having the one project I held dear taken away from me? That got my fire lit.

How did you know to hang on to your IP?

I had met a few people in the early web days who’d sold their show to producers and networks, only to have them buried in development hell and never be seen again. My audience meant, and still means, so much to me, that I didn’t see the point in losing control of the show when it felt like we were doing all the right things on our own. The fans’ support gave me that confidence, and thank goodness for it, or I wouldn’t be able to make a movie today.

How did you cast the original show? Were any of the actors already gamers?

I wrote two of the main parts for improv friends, Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh) and Vork (Jeff Lewis), and I found the rest of the actors from a Backstage casting call. Several of them were already gamers, but a few were anything but (namely, Amy Okuda, who played Tinkerballa — she took some arm twisting). Over the years, though, they’ve all turned into gamers. We’ve enjoyed many a Fortnite session together, especially during COVID times.

Felicia Day as Codex. Other characters returning for “The Guild: Ren Faire’d” are Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh) and Vork (Jeff Lewis).

How has your reunion been going?

I had to make sure the script was good enough before I asked my fans to support it, so in February I had a table read with the main cast. Truly, it felt like no time had passed. We were all laughing so hard, ribbing each other on any little mistakes. It was so much fun to rediscover our characters together again. What we have together as a group is magic, and I can’t wait to get the band back together on set again.

You have a “no AI” sign on the Kickstarter page. What are your thoughts about artificial intelligence versus human creativity?

I look at AI as a great robber of humanity. Not only in the sheer existence of the AI itself, which is comprised of literal stolen material, but in robbing creators of their process. Because process is everything. It’s the whole point, in my opinion. That challenging struggle to write a first draft is how you discover who you are as an artist. But if you don’t do the work, you’ll never truly find out what you want to say to the world. You can’t create anything truly unique to yourself. It just makes me sad. To use a tool filled with other people’s stolen ideas in order to fast forward to an end result for attention, well, that isn’t art. That’s a cheap dopamine hit. And you’re no better a creator for having done it. Please don’t rob yourself like that.

The movie will be set at a Renaissance Faire. What’s your own history with them? Do you go in costume?

I’ve gone to Ren Faires for over a decade. We have a few great ones in SoCal I encourage everyone to explore. The costumes, the vendors, the food — all of it transports you to another world in such a magical way. I want to celebrate everything I love about the setting in our movie. I often go in costume, now with my 9-year-old daughter. It’s actually our Mother’s Day tradition and very dear to my heart.

Day on her work and motherhood: “I’ve learned that, especially as an artist, you have to be your own protector, own advocate, and give yourself unconditional love to be able to tap into what makes your art your own.”

(Parker Burr / For The Times)

Has motherhood changed how you work?

Absolutely. I had no idea how to parent myself before I parented another person. I’ve learned that, especially as an artist, you have to be your own protector, own advocate, and give yourself unconditional love to be able to tap into what makes your art your own. My experience writing this movie has been entirely different from in the past, when I let fear and outside pressure take the fun out of creating. This time, I allowed myself room to play and to make mistakes, just like I encourage my daughter to do. I think my work has benefited greatly from that gentle parenting.

The original “Guild” and the way you’ve mounted this campaign feels like the work of friends, like Mickey and Judy getting the gang together in a someone’s uncle’s barn to put on a show. (Which isn’t to say “amateur.”)

The heart of everything I do is this: I just want to play with my friends and my fans. I want to delight them with new ideas. I want to surprise them with laughs. The industry often divorces us from what got us into the business in the first place: making believe. Creating together. I like my work to embody the kind of spirit you can’t have in more mainstream media where there are levels of approvals over everything and the budgets are so high that the pressure takes the fun out of it. Yes, it’s challenging to make anything with fewer resources, but the community can see the ins and outs of my process and I hope that empowers them, in turn, to create their own things with their own friends one day.

What inspired your new graphic novel?

Being cut off from Hollywood over COVID made me brave enough to write a story I knew wouldn’t be anything an executive would care about if I pitched it. For many years, I didn’t allow myself to develop ideas like that. What was the use if they didn’t find it useful? But in allowing myself the space to write this story set in the world of Greek mythology, I’ve found new confidence as a writer. I want to keep telling stories only I can tell, in whatever format I can. I never want to discard them again because other people won’t find them useful. I hope that anyone reading the book feels the same encouragement to follow their inner muse. Because everyone deserves to be loved for exactly who they are, even our stories.

A wacky day in Lakers land

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: For more than four decades, the Lakers were a family-run business. The sibling rivalries still remain.

Jeanie Buss is fighting back after her siblings reportedly voted to sell the family’s remaining stake in the Lakers on Monday. The team’s governor, Buss sent a letter through her attorney to her brothers’ attorneys stating any votes to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% stake in the team to new majority owners Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner are void because the sale cannot be completed without approval of the other trustees: Jeanie and her younger siblings, Janie and Joey.

ESPN reported Monday that the six Buss family siblings, who took over team ownership after their father, Jerry Buss, died in 2013, are selling their shares of the Lakers to Iger and Kushner following a family vote. Iger, the longtime Disney chief executive, and Kushner, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, agreed last week to buy Mark Walter’s controlling stake of the Lakers for a record valuation of $12.5 billion.

The transactions still need to be approved by the NBA board of governors. Jeanie Buss, who was to remain the Lakers governor for at least five years after Walter’s purchase of the team was approved last October, no longer would be eligible to serve on the board if the Buss family sells its shares. Governors are required to own at least a 15% stake.

“The co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain controlling owner,” the letter from Buss’ attorney reads, citing a 2017 court ruling outlining Jeanie Buss’ role. “Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

Continue reading here

Ohtani homers twice, Dodgers win

From Maddie Lee: Shohei Ohtani paused to admire the flight of his no-doubt home run as it sailed to right-center field.

Clearly on a home-run trajectory, it was headed toward the visitor’s bullpen. From among the trees, Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt’s glove shot up and secured the ball.

As Ohtani circled the bases, the bullpen turned into a mosh pit around Hurt.

In what has been a brutal August for the Dodgers, the vibes were undeniably high.

Maybe all the Dodgers needed was a trip to the Mile High City.

En route to an 11-5 win over the Rockies, Ohtani’s two-run blast in the sixth inning — his second homer of the game — widened the Dodgers’ lead to eight runs, a comfortable lead even at hitter-friendly Coors Field.

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‘Rare accomplishment’: How Max Muncy went from being cast off to longest-tenured Dodger

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Update on NBA probe into Clippers

From Steve Henson: The NBA investigation into whether payments from Clippers team sponsors to star player Kawhi Leonard were a prohibited attempt to circumvent the salary cap has moved to a contentious discussion phase between the team and the league, people with knowledge of the case not authorized to discuss it publicly confirmed to The Times on Monday.

ESPN reported that the probe conducted on behalf of the NBA by high-powered New York law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz has found no evidence establishing that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through Aspiration Partners, Daktronics or other team sponsors to pay Leonard millions of dollars in excess of his player contract.

However, the NBA issued a statement that read: “ESPN’s article regarding the LA Clippers investigation — for which the NBA declined to cooperate — contains numerous and significant inaccuracies. The results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded.”

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MLB approves sale of Padres

Major League Baseball’s team owners unanimously have approved the sale of the San Diego Padres to an investor group led by private equity billionaire José E. Feliciano and his wife and business partner, Kwanza Jones.

The league announced the approval Monday after a vote. Feliciano and Jones reached an agreement in May to buy the Padres from the family of late owner Peter Seidler at an MLB-record valuation of $3.9 billion. The deal is still contingent on the official closing of the transaction in the coming weeks.

“José and Kwanza understand the unique place the Padres hold in San Diego and the powerful bond between the club and its fans,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We look forward to their leadership of the Padres and to working with them to build on the club’s strong foundation in a market that is so important to Major League Baseball.”

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1923 — Helen Mills, 17, ends Molla Bjurstedt Mallory’s domination of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. championships and starts her own with a 6-2, 6-1 victory.

1958 — Floyd Patterson knocks out Roy Harris in the 13th round at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles to retain his world heavyweight title.

1964 — The International Olympic Committee bans South Africa from competing in the Summer Olympics because of its apartheid policies.

1994 — South Africa is introduced for the first time in 36 years during the opening ceremonies of the 15th Commonwealth Games held in Victoria, British Columbia. South Africa had been banned from the Games since 1958 because of its apartheid policies.

1995 — Thirteen-year-old Dominique Moceanu becomes the youngest to win the National Gymnastics Championships senior women’s all-around title in New Orleans.

2004 — Paul Hamm wins the men’s gymnastics all-around Olympic gold medal by the closest margin ever in the event. Controversy follows after it was discovered a scoring error that may have cost Yang Tae-young of South Korea the men’s all-around title. Yang, who finished with a bronze, is wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his second-to-last routine, the parallel bars. He finishes third, 0.049 points behind Hamm, who becomes the first American man to win gymnastics’ biggest prize.

2008 — A day after winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, Rafael Nadal officially unseats Roger Federer to become the world’s No. 1 tennis player when the ATP rankings are released. Federer had been atop the rankings for 235 weeks.

2013 — For the first time in Solheim Cup history, the Europeans leaves America with the trophy. Caroline Hedwall becomes the first player in the 23-year history of the event to win all five matches. She finishes with a 1-up victory over Michelle Wie and gives Europe the 14 points it needed to retain the cup.

2013 — Usain Bolt is perfect again with three gold medals. The Jamaican great becomes the most successful athlete in the 30-year history of the world championships. The 4×100-meter relay gold erases the memories of the 100 title he missed out on in South Korea two years ago because of a false start. Bolt, who already won the 100 and 200 meters, gets his second such sprint triple at the world championships, matching the two he achieved at the Olympics.

2016 — Jamaica’s Usain Bolt completes an unprecedented third consecutive sweep of the 100 and 200-meter sprints, elevating his status as the most decorated male sprinter in Olympic history. He wins the 200-meter race with a time of 19.78 seconds to defeat Andre de Grasse of Canada. American Ashton Eaton defends his Olympic decathlon title, equaling the games record with a surge on the last lap of the 1,500 meters — the last event in the two-day competition. Helen Maroulis defeats Japan’s Saori Yoshida 4-1 in the 53-kilogram freestyle final to win the first-ever gold medal for a United States women’s wrestler.

2018 — Accelerate cruises to a record 12 1/2-length victory in the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar, becoming just the third horse to sweep all three of Southern California’s major races for older horses in the same year.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1915 — Boston opened Braves Field with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

1931 — New York’s Lou Gehrig played in his 1,000th consecutive game. Gehrig went hitless in the 5-4 loss to Detroit.

1948 — Brooklyn’s Rex Barney pitched a one-hitter for a 1-0 win over Robin Roberts and the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park.

1956 — The Cincinnati Reds hit eight home runs and the Milwaukee Braves added two to set a National League record for home runs by two clubs in a nine-inning night game. Bob Thurman’s three homers and double led the Reds in the 13-4 rout.

1960 — Lew Burdette of the Milwaukee Braves pitched a no-hitter, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0. Burdette faced the minimum 27 batters.

1965 — Hank Aaron of Milwaukee hit Curt Simmons’ pitch on top of the pavilion roof at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis for an apparent home run. However, umpire Chris Pelekoudas called him out for being out of the batter’s box when he connected. Nevertheless, the Braves won the game 5-3.

1967 — Jack Hamilton of the Angels hit Tony Conigliaro on his left cheekbone with a fastball in the fourth inning of a 3-2 loss to Boston. Conigliaro was carried unconscious from the field and missed the remainder of the 1967 season and the entire 1968 season. The 22-year-old already had more than 100 home runs in his career.

1977 — Don Sutton of the Dodgers pitched his fifth one-hitter to tie the National League record. Sutton gave up a two-out single in the eighth inning to San Francisco’s Marc Hill. The Dodgers won 7-0.

1995 — Tom Henke became the seventh pitcher to reach 300 saves, surviving a rally by the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 4-3 victory.

2000 — Darin Erstad of the Angels made a spectacular, game-saving catch in the 10th inning and followed it with a homer in the 11th as the Angels defeated the New York Yankees 9-8.

2006 — Alfonso Soriano became the third player in major league history to have at least four seasons of 30 homers and 30 stolen bases, and the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4.

2007 — Micah Owings went 4-for-5, including a pair of mammoth homers, drove in six runs and scored four times while pitching three-hit ball through seven innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Atlanta Braves 12-6.

2011 — Mike Jacobs became the first player suspended by Major League Baseball for a positive HGH test under the sport’s minor league drug testing procedures. The 30-year-old minor league first baseman, who was in the big leagues from 2005-10, received a 50-game suspension for taking the banned performance-enhancing substance and was subsequently released by the Colorado Rockies.

2017 — Manny Machado capped a three-homer night with a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles rallied past the Angels 9-7 in a game that featured 10 home runs.

2018 — New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom pitched his first complete game of the season and lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.71 with a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

2019 — Zack Grenke records the 200th win of his career as the Astros defeat the Athletics 4-1.

2021 — Shohei Ohtani continues to do it all by himself on the field. Today, he becomes the first hitter in the majors to reach 40 homers this season, and also improves his record on the mound to 8-1 as he pitches eight innings for the first time of his career. The Angels defeat the Tigers, 3-1.

2021 — Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman hit for the cycle for the second time in his career as they beat the Miami Marlins 11-9.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Opening statements in a landmark US case brought by a bipartisan coalition of 29 states against Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – began on Tuesday, with Colorado, California, New Jersey and Kentucky arguing that the company’s popular social media apps were designed in ways that harmed the mental health of young users.

The trial, which is expected to last several weeks, began in a US federal court in California before District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. While there is an eight-person jury, the group is serving in an advisory role as Judge Rogers will ultimately decide the case.

Megan O’Neill, a deputy California attorney general, in her opening statement said that the company designed its products to “hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data, and then hide the truth from the public”.

She added that it worked “especially well for kids”.

The lawsuit, which was first filed in 2023, alleges that Meta made decisions to design its apps to hook users and facilitate excessive use among the platforms’ youngest users. The coalition also alleges that the company collected data on children under the age of 13 in violation of federal law.

“Meta needed kids, and it needed to reassure the people who cared about those kids that the kids are safe,” O’Neill said.

‘Limited claims’

Meta has long pushed back on allegations against the Silicon Valley social media behemoth.

In a statement before the trial, a Meta spokesperson said the states’ claims are unsubstantiated, and the company stands by its record of creating strong protections for teenagers, including launching Instagram Teen Accounts in 2024, which limit who can contact underage users, as well as a feature that allows parents to set time limits on usage.

“The State AGs may call this a landmark case, but their limited claims are unsubstantiated and their financial demands are vastly disproportionate,” Stephanie Otway, a Meta spokesperson, told Al Jazeera in a statement.

“The AGs offer no proof anyone in their states was misled, claim benign features like having an additional Instagram account somehow harmed their residents, and attempt to penalize Meta for industry-wide challenges like age verification. Rather than sticking to the facts or the law, the states have instead decided to chase an outlandish payout.”

The potential impact on Meta’s bottom line is existential. The company could face fines as high as $1.4 trillion, which is just shy of its $1.5 trillion market cap. However, the coalition is seeking fines of roughly $200bn.

Meta has already been ordered to pay $942m in fines in a separate New Mexico lawsuit – $375m in civil penalties in a March jury verdict and $567m ordered by a judge earlier this month.

Meta has acknowledged that the lawsuits it faces, including those related to youth social media addiction, could lead to “substantial monetary damages or fines” in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in January.

A long time coming

Meta, along with other social media giants, has faced a growing slate of cases across the United States, including from cities, states, school districts and even individuals.

The coalition of states is asking Meta to make changes to its platforms, including introducing new age restrictions and cutting the infinite scroll.

The case’s impetus came from a US Senate committee hearing in 2021, when whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former data scientist at Facebook, claimed that the company knowingly pushed products that could impact the health of young users as the Mark Zuckerberg-led company pursued higher profits.

Meta has repeatedly tried to end the coalition lawsuit, including in 2024 and as recently as June, when it sought summary judgement – a decision that a court might make without going to trial – which would have ended the lawsuit.

The case is impacting the company’s stock. On Wall Street, the social media giant is down more than 3 percent in midday trading.

SHARON Osbourne has accused a huge rock star of ‘giving Kelly drugs’ when she was a teen – and branded her a ‘a dry old c***’.

The former X Factor, 73, opened up about what happened during a recent live Q&A screening event for If These Walls Could Rock at the Landmark Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles over the weekend.

While appearing on stage as a special guest on Saturday 15 August ahead of a screener, the TV star alleged that Courtney Love, 62, gave her daughter drugs.

Courtney has previously denied giving drugs to any teenagers, after Sharon accused her in the past.

Back in 2007, Sharon alleged that Courtney was the first person to give Jack OxyContin.

One of the guests in the audience captured what Sharon said on camera as the host asked her: “Oh you know who gave it to her? You don’t have to say, but you know.”

TAVERN TRIBUTE

Sharon Osbourne pours a pint behind bar in late Ozzy’s hometown

CRAZY PAIN

Sharon Osbourne’s first year without Ozzy has been an ’emotional nuclear bomb’

Sharon replied: “Yeah, Courtney Love.”

The presenter replied: “Well now you have said it, I want to hear this story! You tell me what happened.”

Sharon replied: “I will say no more, but, she’s a c*** anyway.

“A boring old c***. A dry, old c***.”

The Instagram user captioned the post: “Sharon Osbourne was telling a story about someone allegedly giving Kelly drugs when she was a young teenager… and then she dropped the name.

“I guess this is the greatest ad ever to go see If These Walls Could Rock.”

The Sun have contacted Courtney’s representative for comment.

Sharon has previously blamed Courtney for her son Jack’s addiction to prescription drug OxyContin.

She said back in 2007: “I will never have time for Courtney Love. She was the first person to give my son Jack the prescription drug OxyContin.

“There’s not a shadow of doubt in my mind about that. My dislike towards her is very personal.”

Courtney denied the accusation and said: “I never did that. I would never give drugs to a teenager.

“F**k you Sharon – as if I would ever give drugs to a teenager.”

Aston Villa have agreed a deal sign West Ham defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

The DR Congo right-back will join on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy at the end of the season.

Wan-Bissaka has been given permission to travel for a medical in the Midlands but the exact terms are not known, with the Hammers having previously asked interested clubs to pay a £25m fee.

The 28-year-old has missed Championship club West Ham’s first two matches of the season during negotiations.

West Ham have sold Mateus Fernandes to Tottenham for £85m and Crysencio Summerville for £60m this summer, but captain Jarrod Bowen has signed a new contract.

Villa, meanwhile, have also had a busy summer in the transfer market, most notably selling Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for £117m.

They currently have the lowest net spend in the Premier League, at about £110m after sales are taken into account.

Despite that, Villa have signed midfielders Johan Manzambi and Joao Gomes, as well as Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho on a loan deal with an obligation to buy. They have also added highly rated young centre-back Modou Keba Cisse.

Villa begin their Premier League campaign at Brighton on Sunday (14:00 BST) and will also compete in the Champions League after finishing fourth and winning the Europa League under Unai Emery last season.

The Disney theme parks are entering their fan feedback era.

This past weekend’s all-things-Disney fan event at the Anaheim Convention Center was the first with Josh D’Amaro installed as CEO. And D’Amaro’s message to fans was clear: We’ve heard you, we know what you want and we’re working on it.

That means Disneyland Park is at long last getting its Tomorrowland makeover, a top fan request for much of the last decade-plus. Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is fixing its broken yeti, the star of thrilling roller coaster Expedition Everest that has been busted for about 20 years. Epcot’s fan favorite purple dragon Figment will soon be starring in a brand new attraction that resurrects his bearded creator, Dreamfinder, saving fans from suffering through its current half-hearted iteration in which “Monty Python’s” Eric Idle essentially treats the beloved character as a pest. (I ride it because I adore Figment, but I cringe throughout, and not just because at one point we’re annoyingly blasted with the smell of a skunk.)

And Disneyland Paris is yanking the marketing-driven “Star Wars” overlay Hyperspace Mountain from Space Mountain to return the coaster to its superior Jules Verne-inspired original. Disneyland officials take note: We don’t want Hyperspace Mountain here, either, but at least ours isn’t semi-permanent.

The long-broken yeti on Walt Disney World’s Expedition Everest will eventually be fixed. The above is an artist rendering of the attraction released by Disney Experiences.

(Disney)

It’s a sharp move, and may seem like a no-brainer, but following fan feedback doesn’t come without some risks. Fans, after all, rarely know best, often prioritizing nostalgia and lore over evolution. And Walt Disney Imagineering has remained one of the most respected corporate creative institutions for a reason. In short, fans, don’t let this go to your head.

But D’Amaro is also showing that he understands something not all Disney leaders have appeared to be well-versed in. And that’s the fact that the best IP of the Disney theme parks are the parks themselves.

Disneyland Park’s biggest selling point is not “Star Wars,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “The Princess and the Frog” or “Peter Pan.” It’s Disneyland itself, a temple dedicated to our narrative myths and communal play.

For too long Disney parks seemed to be, if not led, steered by its marketing teams. A franchise here, a franchise there. That thinking led to lesser designs such as a misguided remake of Paradise Pier into Pixar Pier at California Adventure, in which Pixar characters are basically treated as decals. It’s led me to argue in the past that Disney’s IP was squeezing the theme out of its theme parks.

Tomorrowland in its current state is a mess of ideas with a number of underutilized buildings.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Disneyland last attempted to revamp Tomorrowland in 1998, and while the concept was on point — a retro-futuristic, Verne-inspired look of sci-fi fantasy — the company didn’t fully commit to it and the land has largely been a mess of ideas since. Space Mountain remains a symbol of optimism dedicated to the joy and unpredictability of galactic exploration. But the rest of the land, save for the monorail, one of Disneyland’s most recognizable monuments, should be considered fair game.

Tomorrowland has become such an eyesore that even Disneyland President Jill Estorino recognized its negative press at a pre-D23 media event. “Painful to read,” she said to the assembled media as she rattled off stories observing the “little tomorrow in Tomorrowland” and describing the land as “tired.” Estorino conceded it was “all true.”

That made this past weekend’s announcement even more of a surprise. The reimagining, as Disneyland is calling it, is in good hands. Imagineer Emily “Emo” O’Brien, the creative producer overseeing the Disneyland Resort, recently worked on Fantasy Springs at Tokyo Disneyland, a highly acclaimed modern take on a Fantasyland-like area home to fresh takes on “Frozen,” “Tangled” and “Peter Pan.” O’Brien has been with Imagineering for about 30 years, and one of her first projects was hand-shaping the armrests of the approximately 2,000 seats of Disney California Adventure’s Hyperion Theater. The little details at a Disney park matter.

Promotional art for a reimagined Tomorrowland released by Disney. The project, according to Imagineers, is in its infancy.

(Disney)

“I grew up in my career with this legacy,” O’Brien said. “I understand the kind of gravitas and the responsibility that I have with our team to guide us through this journey of reimagining the only Tomorrowland that Walt [Disney] actually envisioned, designed and walked in.”

A remade Tomorrowland, to be clear, is years away. No questions were answered on Tomorrowland at D23, so fans will have to wait to hear what this means for the long out-of-work PeopleMover. And as previously reported, Estorino said the reworking of the original Disneyland area will come after California Adventure opens its “Avengers” and “Coco” attractions. The former two were given a 2028 date, while “Coco” still does not have an opening window. After Tomorrowland, the resort intends to tackle “Avatar.”

The fan favorite purple dragon known as Figment at Walt Disney World’s Epcot. The attraction Journey Into Imagination With Figment has been earmarked for renovations.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

At a Disney parks presentation Saturday evening, the Tomorrowland announcement received arguably the largest applause. But it was closely followed by the reveal of a reworking of what is currently known as Journey Into Imagination With Figment at Epcot. That ride has been a shadow of its former, glorious self since the late ’90s, even as the squeaky-voiced Figment has remained a popular mascot for the park. That’s no real surprise, but I, of course, am biased, as I have a Figment tattoo and the character was my childhood favorite.

Figment is a dreamer, his very existence the result of a dreamer. While I don’t necessarily trust the memory of my 10-year-old self, I remember Figment becoming an astronaut one moment and pretending to be a ship’s captain in the next. Visions of that ride are burned into my brain. Figment was a reminder to a video-game-obsessed kid that while you can’t do everything, you can at least envision anything.

And Imagineering appears to be doing just that at the moment. The projects, of course, will have to be conceptualized, designed and built, and there’s still time to make mistakes, such as attaching a known IP to the reimagined Imagination (don’t do it).

Concept art for the Maleficent attraction coming to Villains Land.

(Disney)

Tomorrowland has been flawed since the early 2000s and Disney can survive without touching it. Its attractions — Star Tours, Autopia, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters — still, after all, draw crowds. The commitment to redesign it may be a crowd-pleasing one, but it’s also a reminder, a symbol of understanding.

If something’s broke, you correct it. You don’t let it sit in a derelict state simply because the financial math doesn’t justify new guest spending or increased crowds. The Disney parks are a home away from home for many a visitor, and they should be treated as such.

D’Amaro, of course, as CEO will be evaluated on much more than simply how he leads the parks. But he and and his partner Thomas Mazloum, the chairman of Disney Experiences, came to this D23 with one message: We’re one of you. Expect the Disney die-hards to hold them to it.

One more D23 thought

An Imagineering research and development project in which Grogu and the character of Hugo are represented as robotic figures serving guests.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The Imagineering booth on the convention floor was full of delights and wonders, especially in its research and development section. I tend not to devote a ton of newsletter space to R&D, only because I’d rather focus on what guests can or will be seeing in the future, but the two “Star Wars” attractions shown not only deserve their props, but belong in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

One is a no-brainer, and it’s a snack stand featuring Grogu and Hugo from “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” The latter, voiced by Martin Scorsese in the film, is largely asleep and snoring in the food truck-like stand, while Grogu uses the Force to whisk orders across the counter. Fan were transfixed. And this seems like the perfect mix of corporate and creative desires, as no doubt many a Disney guest would order an extra soda if it came with a show featuring “Baby Yoda.”

An Imagineering research and development project featuring robotic Anzellan mechanics that can interact with guests.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The other was an Anzellan work bench. Anzellans are tiny creatures introduced in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” known for their engineering skills, and here they were seen working on droid parts. But they also interact with guests.

Get close enough, and they’ll stop what they’re doing to quizzically look at you, ask you a question or maybe even repeat what you said to them. They’re as lifelike a robotic as Disney ever created, and the 14-acre Galaxy’s Edge is never not in need of more activity. Here’s hoping these little guys find a destination in the parks soon.

This week in SoCal theme parks

The vibrant, dance-focused “Magic Happens” parade will return to Disneyland in 2027.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

• Halloween is here! While the temperature may not feel like it, the fall Halloween season has arrived, and the Disneyland Resort’s Oogie Boogie Bash begins Tuesday evening. Additionally, the resort-wide Halloween Time launches Friday. There are still tickets available for many an Oogie date, and new this year is a Haunted Mansion-inspired street festival as well as the arrival of Yzma, the villain from “The Emperor’s New Groove.” Oogie is a good time, especially if you haven’t done it before.
• Looking ahead to Disneyland in 2027. With the new Avengers Campus not opening until 2028, the Disneyland Resort in 2027 will rely heavily on entertainment to lure locals back to the park. That means the fantastic “Magic Happens” parade is returning before next summer season. While it has the requisite mix of Disney characters, it’s also notable for its use of contemporary dance. Also returning is the original “World of Color” to Disney California Adventure and a refreshed version of the fireworks show “Remember… Dreams Come True” at Disneyland Park. Both are expected in February, shortly after the holiday season concludes.
• A blow to the in-park games of Disneyland. Reports surfaced Monday that the Walt Disney Co. was killing the Play Disney Parks app, which is home to the enjoyable Star Wars: Datapad game Batuu Bounty Hounters. The app was largely designed to give fans activities while they waited in lines, and was also meant to turn Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge into a live-in video game. The app will go offline Sept. 16, according to Disneyland officials.
• A new window on Main Street. Former Disney CEO and future Los Angeles Lakers co-owner Bob Iger has received a window on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. The honor is reserved for those who have heavily impacted the Disney parks, and Iger certainly qualifies, as his many acquisitions — Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm — changed the tenor of Disneyland and beyond. Look for Iger’s window above the Emporium gift shop, where he is heralded as a “new century builder.”
• Good news for Disneyland’s ‘Monsters, Inc.’ fans. With the announcement that Disney California Adventure’s “Avatar” experience won’t arrive until after Tomorrowland’s redo, the attraction Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! will get to remain open a little longer. Previously, the attraction was supposed to close in early 2027, but Disneyland officials now say the dark ride will remain open for the foreseeable future. A closing window will be announced at a later date.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

A still from the Smugglers Gambit game in Fortnite.

(Image from Disney)

The Disney theme parks this past weekend deepened its connection to “Fortnite” as part of a partnership with Epic Games. The latter’s Unreal Engine already fuels Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, as well as a new Pirates of the Caribbean audio-animatrionic. And now guests who utilize the Disneyland app and connect it to their Epic Games account can receive in-game rewards for experiencing the Millennium Falcon attraction, including the recovery of a unique crate on the ride.

I had a chance to play the “Fortnite” experience inspired by the ride, “Smugglers Gambit,” and appreciate the way park worlds are being used to fuel connection to them at home. “Fortnite,” admittedly, is not my game of choice, but “Smuggler’s Gambit” was more robust than I expected, and I’m happy see aspects of the fictional planet of Batuu represented in the digital space. Business writer Samantha Masunaga has more on Disney’s relationship with Epic Games.

Most people, when asked what terrorism is, will say that it is the use of violence and terror to create fear among people. This is broadly the dictionary definition. The 2017 Manchester Arena bombing at an Ariana Grande concert, in which 22 people, including many children, were killed, is a clear example.

Yet the legal definition of terrorism in Britain is far broader than this common understanding. Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows even “damage to property” to constitute terrorism when it is carried out for a political, religious, racial or ideological purpose and is intended to influence the government or intimidate the public. Where firearms or explosives are involved, the latter requirement does not apply.

Including politically motivated damage to property within the definition was controversial from the start. When Parliament debated the bill in 1999, animal liberation activists were among the groups MPs had in mind.

Labour MP Alan Simpson warned during the debate that by defining attacks on property as terrorism, “we transform the relationship between civil protest movements and elected Parliaments and the judicial system.”

The criticism did not end with Parliament. The Supreme Court later described Section 1’s definition of terrorism as “very far-reaching”, while David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, called it “remarkably broad – absurdly so in some cases”.

In his 2012 report, Anderson observed:

“The current law allows members of any nationalist or separatist group to be turned into terrorists by virtue of their participation in a lawful armed conflict… however odious the regime which they have attacked.”

In his 2014 Terrorism Report, he warned:

“To render people subject to the terrorism laws whom no sensible person would think of as terrorists risks destroying the trust upon which these special powers depend for their acceptance by the public.”

Yet defining what can count as terrorism is only part of the story. Not every organisation whose conduct falls within that definition is proscribed. That decision rests with the government.

Proscription therefore adds a political choice: Which organisations should be banned, making membership and inviting support for them criminal offences.

For example, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed Kurdish group that has fought the Turkish state for decades, is proscribed in Britain. Its Syrian offshoot, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), is not, because PYD-led forces became Western allies in the fight against ISIS (ISIL).

Britain proscribed Hamas’s military wing in 2001. In 2021, Home Secretary Priti Patel extended that proscription to Hamas in its entirety, including its political wing, declaring the previous distinction between the two “artificial”. Many civilian members of Hamas who had never picked up a gun were now deemed terrorists alongside its fighters.

By collapsing the distinction between Hamas’s military and political wings, Britain legitimised Israel’s portrayal of Hamas’s civilian administration as part of a terrorist apparatus and, with it, the targeting of hospitals and schools as terrorist infrastructure.

The asymmetry is stark. Britain’s terrorism laws can criminalise non-state organisations and those who support them, while state terrorism, including Israel’s, remains outside their reach.

The proscription of Palestine Action brought a different consequence of these laws into focus: Their use against protest in Britain. Palestine Action is a British direct-action group that has targeted arms companies supplying Israel. In July 2025, the government proscribed it under the Terrorism Act 2000.

United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk warned that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action “raises serious concerns that counter-terrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist”.

The ban has been fiercely contested in the courts. In February 2026, the Divisional Court ruled the proscription unlawful. On June 15, the Court of Appeal reversed that decision and upheld the ban. The court also described Elbit as carrying out a “lawful business”, ignoring its role in supplying the Israeli military during the genocide.

In upholding the ban, Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr drew a contrast with the Suffragettes, saying Palestine Action was not “a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the Suffragettes operating transparently in the open” but “a covert group operating in cells”.

Carr’s characterisation rests on an extraordinarily sanitised version of suffragette history.

In November 1909, a suffragette attacked Winston Churchill with a horse whip. In the same month, suffragettes, armed with a catapult and missiles, attacked Prime Minister H. H. Asquith’s car in Liverpool.

In 1912, Suffragettes attempted to set fire to the Theatre Royal in Dublin during a matinee attended by Asquith. They left a canister of gunpowder close to the stage. Earlier in the day, Mary Leigh had hurled a hatchet towards Asquith.

In 1913, four postmen in Dundee were severely injured by phosphorus chemicals left in post boxes. The following year, Mary Richardson slashed the Rokeby Venus in the National Gallery, while bombs were discovered in St Paul’s and churches were burned down.

This history sits uneasily with Carr’s distinction. The Suffragettes themselves engaged in politically motivated attacks on property and people of precisely the kind that Britain’s modern definition of terrorism is broad enough to capture.

The Filton case shows what this can mean in practice. When the Filton 25 attacked an Elbit factory in Bristol, they were remanded in custody for up to 18 months. When six of them went on trial in November 2025, the jury acquitted them of aggravated burglary, the most serious charge, and failed to reach verdicts on criminal damage. No defendant was convicted at that first trial. At a retrial, four were convicted of criminal damage; only one was eventually convicted of grievous bodily harm, without intent.

The jury was not told that guilty verdicts could later lead to the offences being treated as having a “terrorist connection” for sentencing. Justice Jeremy Johnson subsequently made precisely that finding. Johnson had also ruled out defences based on necessity and the need to prevent the greater crime of genocide. In doing so, he usurped the role of the jury.

The consequences of the ban were not confined to those accused of taking direct action against Elbit. Once Palestine Action was proscribed, inviting or expressing support for the group became a terrorism offence.

When the government proscribed Palestine Action, people defied the ban. Nearly 4,000 people have been arrested for holding placards supporting Palestine Action.

The Home Office reported that in the year ending March 2026, there were 3,061 terrorism-related arrests, 2,819 of them linked to suspected support for Palestine Action. The average age of those arrested in connection with Palestine Action was 59, compared with 31 for all other terrorism-related arrests. A majority of the Palestine Action arrests were women.

The profile of Britain’s average “terrorist” changed from a man aged 31 to a woman aged 59.

This is where Britain’s extraordinarily broad definition of terrorism, combined with the government’s power to proscribe organisations, has led. Conduct once understood as protest and political expression can now be prosecuted under terrorism legislation.

As Orwell wrote, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” When the meaning of “terrorism” is stretched far enough, the extraordinary powers attached to that word stretch with it.

Today, my own trial begins. I am accused of inviting support for Hamas. My prosecution is not separate from the story told here. It is where that story leads.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

The U.S. Navy is reportedly evaluating a major change to the Ford class aircraft carrier design that would move the island superstructure further forward on the flight deck. President Donald Trump is said to be pushing the service to reposition the island on aesthetic grounds, to make the ships look more like World War II-era carriers. Just last Thursday, Trump publicly ordered the Navy and the Pentagon to come up with a plan for abandoning the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults and Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWE) on the Ford class, starting with the future USS Doris Miller, as you can read more about in our reporting here.

Perhaps even more so than replacing EMALS and the AWEs, shifting the island would be an extremely costly and complex proposition. The Navy also chose the island’s location for very specific reasons to provide a host of operational benefits.

The Washington Post was the first to report Trump’s push to relocate the island on the Ford class on Sunday, citing anonymous current and former U.S. officials. Another story followed from The Hill, which also cited a former senior U.S. official.

“The timing and extent of the Navy’s evaluation is unclear, with current and former officials cautioning that the service was concerned that such a change would require significant time and money,” according to the Post. “Trump’s preference, current and former officials said, is for the new aircraft carriers to look more like those that were in service during World War II.”

“The review, which was kick-started in part because of Trump’s concerns about the aesthetics of the Ford class aircraft carriers, is due in ‘several’ weeks,” per The Hill‘s story. “A Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump ordered the Navy to ‘implement design changes to our future aircraft carriers’ and that the service branch ‘has begun moving out on options to meet the President’s intent.’”

Currently, the USS Gerald R. Ford is the only carrier in this class in operational service. The Navy has three more on order: the future USS John F. Kennedy, USS Enterprise, and USS Doris Miller. The service hopes to take delivery of John F. Kennedy this year. The stated plan is to eventually acquire at least 10 Ford class carriers in total. Two more ships in the class have already been formally assigned names: the future USS William J. Clinton and USS George W. Bush.

John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) Successfully Completes Builder’s Sea Trials

To be clear, this is hardly the first time Trump has pushed for major U.S. naval ship design and force planning changes, especially when it comes to the aesthetics of those vessels. “I’m a very aesthetic person,” the President declared in December 2025 at the public rollout of plans for the Trump class battleship.

For the Navy, the placement of the island on the Ford class, as well as its overall design, was not an aesthetic decision. It was also not a decision that was made quickly. During a presentation at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum back in 2015, retired Navy Capt. Tal Manvel, who served for a time as Program Manager for Future Carriers, said the service examined 75 different conceptual configurations between 1996 and 2000. In addition to a host of different hullforms and flight deck layouts, these designs had islands placed at a wide variety of different points.

You can watch Tal Manvel’s full 2015 presentation below.

Shifley Lecture: USS Ford-class carrier design

Ultimately, the Navy settled on the design as it exists today. The total length of the Ford class is very similar to that of the Nimitz class it is in the process of replacing: 337 meters (1,106 feet) versus 332.8 meters (1,092 feet). However, the island on the Ford is 140 feet further aft compared to that of the Nimitz.

The Ford‘s island is also smaller and more angular overall. This was enabled in part by the decision to use a completely different main radar arrangement on the Ford compared to the Nimitz, paring down the total number of distinct radars required as a result. However, the Dual Band Radar (DBR) proved to be extremely complex and troublesome. As a result, the future USS John F. Kennedy and every future carrier in the class is now set to have the AN/SPY-6(V)3, also known as the fixed-face version of Raytheon’s Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR), in place of the DBR. The broad dimensions of the island remain unchanged. The DBR was also set to be a feature on the Navy’s trio of Zumwalt class stealthy destroyers, but the decision was subsequently made to eliminate the S-band arrays on those ships as a cost-cutting measure. Those three destroyers may eventually see the remaining X-band arrays replaced with a variant of the AN/SPY-6 radar coupled with a version of the Aegis Combat System in the future.

The matter of the radar aside, the island is sized to minimize its total footprint and maximize available open deck space, and has a very visible impact on the flight deck layout. The Ford has three aircraft elevators, two on the starboard side, both forward of the island, and another on the port side. Nimitz class carriers have three aircraft elevators on the starboard side, one of which is aft of the island, as well as one on the port side. These changes and other design choices mean the Ford has more total flight deck space than the Nimitz – five acres (217,800 square feet) compared to 4.5 acres (196,020 square feet), according to the Navy.

In an exclusive interview with TWZ back in 2022, then-Navy Capt. Paul “Paulie” Lanzilotta, captain of the USS Gerald R. Ford’s at the time, talked at length about the benefits of the island’s position.

The Navy uses “cyclic flight operations to continue to generate sorties over many hours a day,” Lanzilotta told us following a panel on the history of aircraft carriers at the annual Sea Air Space symposium that year. “And we do that by launching the cycle and then recovering that cycle.”

“If you’re a little bit late, you need to troubleshoot, maybe it’s just reset a system that’s built into the aircraft, you reset the system and off you go, you can taxi to the catapult,” he explained. “If you’re parked after the island on the older ships, you need a break in the recovery in order to do that because everything we do happens very, very quickly, very efficiently.”

“So on my ship? Less likely that you’re going to need that break and a lot more likely that I can refuel you and rearm you more efficiently,” he continued. “It’s based on the design of where the island is plus the weapons elevators and the way we fuel aircraft.”

What this all means in more layman’s terms is that the configuration of the flight deck, including the placement of the island, creates additional flexibility for launch and recovery operations and helps contribute to a better sortie generation rate. The way the space is configured would offer benefits for other activities, including hot-deck refueling and maintenance, as well. The Washington Post‘s story says the configuration also offers an added margin of safety for aircraft coming in to land by helping reduce the chance of turbulence generated at the stern.

In his interview with us in 2022, Lanzilotta, who has since been promoted to rear admiral and is now commander of Carrier Strike Group 12 (CSG-12), acknowledged that Ford had fewer aircraft elevators and less deck space in the back of the island. However, he said the elevators were designed to be more efficient and downplayed any negative impacts from the reconfiguration of the flight deck.

“I still have room back there to park aircraft. Fly helicopters back aft of the island when we want to work and park airplanes back there,” Lanzilotta said. Together with the smaller overall size of the island, “if anything, I probably gained overall area on the flight deck.”

“From a ship handling perspective, being further away from the bow kind of increases the shadow zone forward,” he did note, referring to something of a blind spot toward the bow that is only exacerbated by moving the island aft.

However, “we just manage [that challenge] organically,” he explained, “whether it’s a sensor forward, to watchstanders that are forward, and additional assets that we naturally have with us all the time, like our helicopters, and our security boats and stuff like that.”

“I’m amazed by how well we’re able to move in the narrow channel in San Diego Bay,” he added. “It’s a great bay, but a busy one.”

It is worth noting here that the Ford uses a distributed aperture remote video system to help the ship’s crew keep tabs on flight deck operations and to just provide valuable general situational awareness. This system supplants the Island Camera Room found on Nimitz class carriers. This also eliminates the need for individual camera operators at various points around the island, as is the case with the Integrated Launch and Recovery Television Surveillance (ILARTS) system on the older carriers. There are additional camera systems around the ship, as well. You can read more about this here.

The placement of the island on the Ford class reflects a broader trend, too. The design of France’s future “porte-avions de nouvelle génération,” or PA-Ng, (which translates to New Generation Aircraft Carrier), as it has been shown to date, has a very similarly shaped island that is also positioned well toward the stern. In 2023, renderings emerged of notional next-generation Chinese aircraft carriers with this same kind of island and flight deck configuration.

It is possible there are non-aesthetic reasons, as well as aesthetic ones, behind Trump’s report push to relocate the island on the Ford class. However, if that is the case, this has yet to be publicly articulated.

Very broadly speaking, since the end of World War II, the islands on U.S. aircraft carrier designs have been progressively moving further and further aft, in general. It is also worth noting that the island placement on World War II-era carrier designs was not universally further toward the bow, either. Some U.S. and foreign classes of the time, particularly lighter designs, lacked a traditional island on top of the flight deck at all.

Regardless of any pros and cons about where the island is placed on the Ford class design, moving it now would be exceedingly costly and complex. It has been pointed out that relocating the island would involve far more than just moving the superstructure. It is deeply integrated into the ship’s overall configuration, and shifting it would have much broader impacts that would need to be addressed just in terms of seakeeping, structural stability, and basic balance. A host of other accompanying changes would also be required. Since the island is where the ship’s main radars and many other key systems are positioned, a substantial amount of additional testing would have to be done to ensure everything works as intended in the new location.

“The Navy also examined the issue during his [Trump’s] first term as president,” according to The Washington Post. “A study found that moving the island could cost billions of dollars in redesign costs and significantly delay the program.”

More delays with the Ford class is something the Navy can ill afford. The program is already running years behind schedule due in no small part to issues with the aforementioned EMALS catapults and AWEs, as well as a host of other long-troubled aspects of the ship’s design. The Navy had originally planned to take delivery of the John F. Kennedy in 2022.

The potential pitfalls of a major reworking of the Ford design could have cascading effects that go well beyond this class of ships. As TWZ wrote last week after the announcement regarding plans for the catapults and weapons elevators on the future Doris Miller and other following ships in the class:

Trump’s memo yesterday also focused heavily on further steps to address now long-standing concerns about U.S. naval shipbuilding capacity across the board. America’s specific ability to produce new nuclear-powered surface warships and submarines has now become even more of a focal point in these discussions with the addition of the plans for the Trump class battleships. In May, the Navy confirmed the Trump class warships will have nuclear propulsion using the same type of reactors developed for the Ford class.

The Navy has not acquired a new nuclear-powered surface combatant in decades. Newport News is currently the only U.S. shipyard producing nuclear-powered surface vessels of any kind, and is already heavily strained by current demands, which also include production of new non-nuclear warships. There is only one other yard in the country that produces nuclear-powered vessels of any kind, and is focused on submarine production.

Pushing the schedule for the delivery of Ford class carriers even further to the right, along with adding billions to the program’s cost, would only add to the strains on the Navy’s existing Nimitz class carriers, which have been building into a low-level crisis. As we also wrote:

In a time of peace, without all the threats and operational demands the United States is currently facing, or if there was any kind of surplus carrier capacity, making fundamental changes to the Ford class carrier program might very well have been a logical decision. However, all of this also comes at a time when the Navy’s operational carriers are experiencing exceptional pressure. The Nimitz class carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been on a marathon deployment in the Middle East, has become something of a poster child for growing readiness concerns amid reports of severely flagging morale and mental health among the crew. The Navy is now moving to relieve Lincoln.

Still, this is a worrisome situation that has already been building for many years, due in large part to a succession of global crises, and has now been further exacerbated by the ongoing conflict with Iran. Even so, the Navy is trying to keep to its existing schedule for inactivating aging Nimitz class carriers, though the date for when the USS Nimitz is set to leave service has now been pushed back until next year. Retiring existing carriers will only create further strains if the arrival of new members of the Ford class continues to be pushed back.

As we also previously mentioned, it very much remains to be seen if any plans for major changes to the Ford‘s core design actually become a reality. Trump’s second term in office ends in January 2029, and any such work could easily bleed over into the next presidential administration, which could then reverse course. Congress could well step in to take action even sooner.

Whatever happens, it would be a huge undertaking in terms of both time and resources to relocate the island on the Ford class carrier, and would upend a decision that was made years ago with clear operational benefits in mind.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The hours since actor Hayden Panettiere’s unexpected death over the weekend have proved to be a “time of profound shock and grief” for her ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko and their daughter, the Ukrainian boxing star said on social media.

Klitschko, a multiple-time heavyweight world champion, on Monday evening mourned the “Heroes” star and his former partner in an emotional tribute shared to Instagram. The former pro athlete posted a family photo of himself, Panettiere and their daughter Kaya (whose face is censored by a bright orange dot) all smiles against a cloudy sky. Klitschko wrote that news of the actor’s death “saddens me deeply” and echoed a recurring sentiment expressed in a majority of tributes to Panettiere: “She left this world far too soon.”

“Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya,” Klitschko said. “She built an incredible career through immense talent, while also facing the darker sides of a very demanding industry. Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives.”

Panettiere, whose career spanned TV, film and video games, died Sunday at age 36, her father announced in a statement. A cause of death was not revealed, but an autopsy Monday found no signs of trauma that would have been a contributing factor. She was found unresponsive at an apartment complex in Greenville, S.C., shortly before 2 p.m. Eastern time after an acquaintance called 911, police said in a statement. Police said a preliminary investigation had not indicated any signs of foul play.

Panettiere and the boxer were in an on-and-off relationship from 2009 to 2018 and were engaged in 2013. The “Nashville” and “Ice Princess” star welcomed their daughter in 2014 but relinquished full custody to Klitschko in 2018. In her past, Panettiere had been outspoken about her struggles with postpartum depression. She previously refuted speculation that she just gave up her child.

“It was the hardest thing I could do,” she said during a 2022 appearance on “Red Table Talk.” “But the best thing for my daughter was to make sure she was OK, take care of myself and make sure I could be a good mom to her. And sometimes that means letting go.”

Klitschko said in his post that he will carry on Panettiere’s legacy at home, while making a promise to Kaya: “I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was.” He concluded his post by sending his condolences to Panettiere’s loved ones and fans. He also asked followers to respect his family’s privacy as they mourn the loss.

He added: “Young and talented people like Hayden should not leave this world so soon.”

Klitschko joins Panettiere’s co-stars and Hollywood peers in paying tribute to her life and career on social media. “Heroes” star Masi Oka said Panettiere was “wiser beyond her years and now gone too soon” while “Nashville” co-star Connie Britton recalled Pannettiere was “bursting with brilliance” during their time on the ABC series.

To Viola Davis, “Custody” co-star Panettiere was a “beautiful Phoenix rising from the ashes.”

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Atty. Gen. Keith Ellison sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, seeking to compel the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent to stand trial for assault and falsely reporting a crime in the wounding of a man during the agency’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

Ellison said he would request a temporary restraining order barring the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office in Texas from releasing ICE agent Christian Castro and requiring Abbott to sign the extradition warrant allowing Minnesota law enforcement agents to take custody of him.

Castro was arrested 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. The criminal complaint alleges that Castro fired a gun at the front door of a home in Minneapolis, striking a victim in the leg before lodging in a child’s bedroom wall, and then knowingly provided false information to an officer about it.

Ellison said at a news conference that unless he’s extradited, Castro faces release from jail next week — 90 days since he was detained — under Texas law, and could flee the U.S. from the border town where he’s being held.

“Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota,” Ellison said. “He must face justice in Minnesota. Gov. Abbott should have granted Gov. Walz’s extradition request long ago and is required to do so now.”

“Christian Castro is not above the law and Greg Abbott isn’t either,” Ellison added.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the legal action taken Tuesday to compel Castro’s extradition “should be a completely unnecessary lawsuit.” Officials at the jail and local prosecutors in Texas have been “very cooperative,” she said — “it is not supposed to be controversial.”

She said that since Castro’s arrest, Texas has extradited three unrelated criminal defendants without incident to Minnesota at the request of state authorities.

Gov. Abbott has received communication with us on an ongoing basis, including recently,” Ellison said. “We have to take the position that they are refusing to honor the extradition request.”

Vancleave writes for the Associated Press.