A Tufts University student from Turkey being held in a Louisiana immigration facility must be returned to New England no later than May 1 to determine whether she was illegally detained for co-writing an op-ed piece in the student newspaper, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge William Sessions said he would hear Rumeysa Ozturk’s request to be released from detention in Burlington, Vt., with a bail hearing set for May 9 and a hearing on the petition’s merits on May 22. Ozturk’s lawyers had requested that she be released immediately, or at least brought back to Vermont, while the Justice Department argued that an immigration court in Louisiana had jurisdiction.
“The Court concludes that this case will continue in this court with Ms. Ozturk physically present for the remainder of the proceedings,” the judge wrote. “Ms. Ozturk has presented viable and serious habeas claims which warrant urgent review on the merits. The Court plans to move expeditiously to a bail hearing and final disposition of the habeas petition, as Ms. Ozturk’s claims require no less.”
The ruling came more than three weeks after masked immigration officials surrounded the 30-year-old doctoral student as she walked along a street in a Boston suburb March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to a detention center in Basile, La. An immigration judge denied her request for bond Wednesday, citing “danger and flight risk.”
Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or who have been stopped from entering the U.S. after they were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressing support for Palestinians. A Louisiana immigration judge has ruled that the U.S. can deport Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil based on the federal government’s argument that he poses a national security risk.
Ozturk’s lawyers first filed a petition on her behalf in Massachusetts, but they didn’t know where she was and were unable to speak to her until more than 24 hours after she was detained. Ozturk said she unsuccessfully made multiple requests to speak to a lawyer.
She was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, the Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process. In his ruling, Sessions said she has “plausibly pled constitutional violations” but said such pleadings weren’t enough to warrant her immediate release.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said last month, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that is engaged in the ongoing war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Ramer and McCormack write for the Associated Press.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Shohei Ohtani announced the birth of his first child on Saturday, posting on Instagram that he and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, welcomed a baby girl.
“I am so grateful to my loving wife who gave birth to our healthy beautiful daughter,” Ohtani wrote in his post. “To my daughter, thank you for making us very nervous yet super anxious parents.”
Ohtani has been on the paternity list since Friday, and stayed back in Los Angeles during the Dodgers’ trip to Texas to face the Rangers this weekend in anticipation of the birth.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday afternoon — before learning the baby had arrived — that it remained possible Ohtani could be back in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale, though no plans had been finalized.
“I’m hopeful,” Roberts said.
Ohtani first announced that he and Tanaka were expecting back in December. The couple got married the same winter Ohtani signed his 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers.
During an in-game interview on Saturday’s Fox broadcast, Roberts said: “All of the baseball world, the Dodger family, is so excited for Shohei and Mamiko. Congratulations, Sho!”
April 19 (UPI) — The Republican House Oversight Committee chairman has denied requests by two Democrats to check on a Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador, though the GOP has sent their own delegations to tour notorious prison he is at.
Rep. James Comer, of Kentucky, sent letters to two House members telling them they can “spend your own money” to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported on March 15.
Robert Garcia of California and Maxwell Frost of Florida wrote to Comer on Tuesday “requesting authorization” for an official trip. They said also want to check on others held there and invited Republicans to make the trip to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca.
The congressmen sought Congressional Member Delegations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention site. The Democrats note official trips afford them more oversight and security resources.
“If you also wish to meet with him, you can spend your own money,” Comer wrote Friday in a letter obtained by Axios. “But I will not approve a single dime of taxpayer funds for use on the excursion you have requested.”
Comer accused Abrego Garcia of being an MS-13 gang member, though the government has not given proof of his membership. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate” his return to Maryland because he wasn’t given due process before being deported.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Oregon, also plans to travel to El Salvador to demand the release of him. Dexter, a member of committees on land resources and veterans affairs, didn’t disclose whether she was paying for the trip.
“A legal U.S. resident has had his due process rights ripped away and is now being held indefinitely in a foreign prison,” Dexter said in a news release Friday. “This is not just one family’s nightmare; it is a constitutional crisis that should outrage every single one of us. I will travel to El Salvador to confront this crisis head on. Our constitutional rights are on the line.”
Earlier, House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green of Tennessee refused a similar request from Delia Ramirez of Illinois.
Republicans sent their own delegation to El Salvador earlier this week, led by Jason Smith, of Missouri, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
At least seven House Republicans were present on the trip, according to a photo posted to X by the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador.
El #EmbajadorDuncan dio ayer la bienvenida a El Salvador a la delegación encabezada por el Congresista Jason Smith, quien visita el país para fortalecer los lazos bilaterales y dialogar sobre iniciativas que promueven el desarrollo económico y la cooperación mutua. pic.twitter.com/Zj0o8OSiOJ— Embajada EEUU en ES (@USEmbassySV) April 16, 2025
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on March 26 also toured the Terrorism Confinement Center, where the Trump administration is paying El Salvador to house deportees.
In the letter, Comer wrote that Garcia and Frost “displayed active hostility for over two years toward the Committee’s oversight of the Biden Border Crisis and the consequences of millions of illegal aliens entering the country, yet now, you are seeking travel at Committee expense to meet with foreign gang members.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat in Maryland, made his own trip to El Salvador this week.
After initially being denied by the President Nayib Bukele on Thursday, he met with his constitutent at a hotel. Van Hollen said he was informed by Abrego Garcia he had been moved nine days earlier to another prison about 39 miles away in Santa Ana.
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, has also said that he wants to go to El Salvador.
In campaign platform, Carney plans to invest in the military and infrastructure while still cutting spending.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled plans to cut taxes and beef up defence spending, arguing Canada must project economic strength and defend its “sovereignty” from the United States amid roiled relations with its neighbour.
The vote will determine whether Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, secures a mandate to continue as premier or whether the rival Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, take power.
Carney has said he is the best person to stand up to US President Donald Trump, who has opened up a rift in relations with the traditional US ally, imposing heavy tariffs and even threatening to annex Canada as the 51st US state.
“President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us, and that will never happen,” Carney said on Saturday. “Canada is not America, and it never will be, but we need to do more to just recognise that. We need a plan to deal with this new reality.”
‘Investing too little’
Carney’s plan includes investing more in infrastructure and defence while cutting income taxes. He also envisions a trade diversification fund to help exporters expand outside the tariff-heavy US market.
“We’re in an enormous crisis, so we have to be able to do two things: one, hold down on that wasteful spending, which we will do, but much more than that, we need to be bold and drive investment in the economy and take the amazing opportunities we have,” Carney said.
The plan would boost defence spending to exceed a NATO target of 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2030. It includes buying more submarines, drones and icebreakers. Canada will also invest in transatlantic security with “like-minded” European partners, Carney said.
Poilievre, too, has called for increased defence spending although he has proposed offsetting it with deep cuts to “wasteful” foreign aid.
Carney aims to balance the budget within three years by cutting expenditures in the federal public service, all while safeguarding healthcare and pensions.
“The government has been spending too much, and Canada has been investing too little,” he said.
A leading health solicitor told The Sun: “If there are dozens of cases where the guidance is clear cut, the costs to the taxpayer, between damages, legal fees, and the time it will take, could spiral into the millions.”
He added there was little confidence the NHS could change its ways and legal action using the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision as a precedent would be a “slam dunk” — easy to win.
Previous NHS guidance said trans staff on single-sex wards should be treated according to how they identify themselves.
In June, one group of female nurses worried about undressing in front of a trans colleague sued Darlington Memorial Hospital after being told they needed re-education.
After last week’s Supreme Court ruling, Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, vowed to pursue the NHS if it did not update its policies.
The NHS said: “We appreciate the need for revised guidance on same sex accommodation.
“We’re working with the government to provide further guidance.”
Knee-jerk policy changes in schools in response to the ruling should be opposed, the NASUWT teaching union said.
Trans women are NOT women, Supreme Court rules in win for anti-woke campaigners after battle over female-only spaces
If the evil Abedi exploited this ruling to hide his improvised weapons safe in the knowledge he could evade security checks there will rightly be public outrage. How did it come to this?
Courageous prison officers who daily have to deal with violent Islamist extremists should never be exposed to risks in this way.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Thirty years after the deadliest homegrown attack in U.S. history, former President Clinton returned to Oklahoma City on Saturday to remember the people who were killed and comfort those affected by the bombing.
Clinton was president on April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb exploded, destroying a nine-story federal building in downtown Oklahoma City. He delivered the keynote address at a remembrance ceremony near the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.
Clinton, now 78, was widely praised for how he helped the city grapple with its grief in the wake of the bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children. He says it was a day in his presidency that he will never forget.
“I still remember as if it were 30 minutes ago, coming here with Hillary to that memorial service and saying: ‘You have lost too much, but you have not lost everything. You have certainly not lost America, and we will be with you for as many tomorrows as it takes,’” Clinton said, recalling his first visit to Oklahoma City days after the bombing, when he spoke at a memorial service for the victims. “I do think we’ve kept that commitment.”
Clinton has visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum numerous times in the years since the bombing and delivered speeches on major anniversaries.
On Saturday, Clinton also cautioned about the polarizing nature of modern-day politics and how such divisiveness can lead to violence, as it did 30 years ago. He said there is much the nation can learn from the “Oklahoma Standard,” a term coined to reference the city’s response to the bombing by uniting in service, honor and kindness.
“Today, Oklahoma City, America needs you,” he said. “I wish to goodness every American could just see life unfold here, hearing these stories.”
Other speakers included former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and former Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick, who were in office when the bombing occurred. Family members of some of the victims read the 168 names of those killed in the attack.
Saturday’s ceremony was originally scheduled to take place on the grounds of the memorial but was moved inside an adjacent church because of heavy rains.
After the ceremony, a procession of bagpipe players from the Oklahoma City Fire Department led many of those in attendance across the street to the outdoor memorial built on the grounds where the federal building once stood. The memorial includes a museum, a reflecting pool and 168 empty chairs of glass, bronze and stone etched with the names of those killed. Nineteen of the chairs are smaller than the others to represent the children killed.
The memorial’s top missions include a campaign to help people understand the senselessness of political violence and teach a new generation about the effect of the bombing, said Kari Watkins, the memorial’s president and chief executive.
“We knew when we built this place we would some day reach a generation of people who weren’t born or who didn’t remember the story,” Watkins said. “I think now, not just kids are coming through more and more, but teachers who are teaching those kids.”
Al Jazeera takes a look at Athletic’s visit to Real Madrid, where the LaLiga defending champions’ season hangs in the balance.
Who: Real Madrid vs Athletic Club What: Spanish LaLiga Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain When: Sunday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)
Follow Al Jazeera Sport‘s live text and photo commentary stream.
Defending champions Real Madrid are in desperate need of all three points as they entertain Athletic Bilbao in LaLiga.
The Spanish giants’ defence of their Champions League title ended with a defeat to Arsenal on Wednesday.
And with Barcelona moving seven points clear at the top of LaLiga with their 4-3 comeback win against Celta Vigo on Saturday, Los Blancos can ill afford to drop points against a team that are proving tough to topple.
What is the latest on Ancelotti’s future?
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti has refused to speak about his future with the club after recent reports again linked him with a move to Brazil’s national team.
The veteran Italian manager was asked several times by reporters on Saturday at a pre-game news conference if he would leave the Spanish giant this summer, and each time he responded that he didn’t want to speak about it.
“At the end of the season, we will speak about this with the club,” he said more than once.
The 65-year-old is under contract with Madrid through June 2026.
What has happened to Real Madrid’s season?
Speculation regarding Ancelotti’s career plans once again spiked after Madrid’s exit from the Champions League.
Besides the Copa del Rey, Madrid is still in the fight to defend its LaLiga title and will also play in the Club World Cup this summer.
Brazil have reportedly been after Ancelotti since last year as they seek an elite coach for the 2026 World Cup.
The South Americans fired Dorival Junior as coach last month.
What is Ancelotti’s record as a manager?
Ancelotti is the only coach to have won the Champions League five times — three times with Madrid (2014, 2022, 2024) and twice with AC Milan (2003, 2007).
He is also the only coach to have steered teams to domestic league titles in Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France.
Who is reportedly lined up to replace Ancelotti?
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso are both considered top candidates to replace Ancelotti should he leave Madrid.
Klopp, however, is “very happy” in his current post at Red Bull despite rumours linking him to a return to management with Real Madrid, his agent said on Friday.
The German became Red Bull’s global head of football in January, taking care of a stable of clubs, including RB Leipzig, the New York Red Bulls and Bragantino in Brazil.
Alonso, Bayer Leverkusen’s coach, on Friday refused to shut down speculation he could be set for a move to Real Madrid in the summer.
“It’s not a good time to discuss the future. We’re at a very important moment in the season,” Alonso said.
Leverkusen are six points behind league leaders Bayern Munich with five games remaining.
How are Athletic Club fairing in LaLiga?
Athletic hold fourth spot in the Spanish top flight with 15 wins from 31 games.
No team have lost fewer games than the Bilboa-based club, who have suffered defeat on only four occasions.
UN chief Antonio Guterres says he is ‘gravely concerned’ about US air strikes this week on Yemen.
The United States has carried out 13 air strikes on Hodeidah’s port and airport, the Houthi-affiliated TV channel Al Masirah says, two days after a US air strike targeted the Ras Isa port, also in Hodeidah, killing at least 80 people and wounding more than 150.
Al Masirah also reported Saturday that three people were killed and four injured due to a US attack on al-Thawra, Bani Matar, and al-Safiah districts in the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis have promised to carry out “more operations” despite the ongoing US attacks.
US President Donald Trump’s administration announced a major military offensive against the Houthis a few weeks ago. It said the air strikes are aimed at forcing the Houthis to stop threatening ships sailing on the Red Sea on a route crucial to international trade.
Since November 2023, the group has reportedly launched more than 100 attacks on vessels it says are linked to Israel in response to Israel’s war on Gaza and in solidarity with Palestinians.
On Friday, Houthi official Mohammed Nasser al-Atifi told Al Masirah that the “American enemy’s crimes” will not deter the Yemeni people from supporting Gaza, but “rather will strengthen their steadfastness and resilience”.
The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah or “supporters of God”, are an armed group that controls most parts of Yemen, including Sanaa. The group emerged in the 1990s but rose to prominence in 2014 when it seized Sanaa and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee the country.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “is gravely concerned about the airstrikes conducted by the United States over the course of 17 and 18 April in and around Yemen’s port of Ra’s Isa, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, including five humanitarian workers injured,” Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Saturday.
Guterres expressed fears of damage to the port and “possible oil leaks into the Red Sea”, Dujarric added.
The strikes on Ras Isa aimed to cut off supplies and funds for the Houthis, the US military said. It was the deadliest attack of Washington’s 15-month campaign against the Iran-aligned group.
About 70 percent of Yemen’s imports and 80 percent of its humanitarian assistance pass through the ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and as-Salif.
Ras Isa also is the terminus of Yemen’s main oil pipeline, which, along with its port, are “critical and irreplaceable infrastructure” in Yemen, according to the UN Development Programme.
Inside the club-like Sonora tent on the grounds of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Gary Tovar is inching closer to the stage. As ever, he’s snapping pictures on his phone, and shooting bits of video, to be shared online later.
Onstage on this opening weekend of the festival is the Los Angeles indie rock act Together Pangea, but for some astute music-lovers in the crowd, Tovar is as recognizable as anyone who will be on this stage. He’s the founder of Goldenvoice Productions, which launched Coachella in 1999, and was a crucial supporter of L.A.’s original punk rock concert scene in the 1980s.
Dressed in his usual plain white T-shirt, dark khaki shorts, with a blue bandana tied close to his throat, Tovar can barely get a few steps across the air-conditioned room before he’s greeted by another admirer. While Tovar no longer owns the company he founded in 1981, he remains its No. 1 fan, attending multiple concerts and club shows every week, sometimes two or three a night.
At Coachella, he is an especially active consumer of music, starting his day with breakfast in catering, and spending a full day going from stage to stage. He often travels in his own golf cart, but says he still gets 25,000 steps in a day. The heat, reaching above 100 degrees on opening weekend, does not slow him down.
“A lot of people stay in their era,” Tovar says of his ongoing music consumption. “There’s a lot of people complaining — they came here in 2009 — they still want MGMT, they want Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and they want time to stop. You have to be eternal. I don’t mean you’re gonna live forever. I mean, when the music moves, you move with it. You can’t pine for yesterday.”
Gary Tovar backstage at Coachella’s artist compound with Joe Escalante of the Vandals, center, and Greg Hetson of the Circle Jerks.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
That said, he maintains a lot of affection for the punk era that launched Goldenvoice in the early 1980s. While other local punk rock promoters came and went, Goldenvoice became an essential champion of punk, metal, goth, industrial and other revolutionary sounds of the time. Tovar also flew in acts from overseas for their first L.A. area shows.
Tovar saw himself as a patron of the arts, putting the likes of Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Jane’s Addiction onstage at the Olympic Auditorium, Santa Monica Civic, John Anson Ford Amphitheatre and Fender’s Ballroom.
He survived where many others failed because he had the resources to follow his musical passions, even if the shows weren’t always profitable. The reason: Tovar was a marijuana smuggler, bringing contraband in from Colombia and then Thailand. He made millions, until a prison sentence took him away for seven years, and he handed the company over to his successors: Paul Tollett and the late Rick Van Santen.
While Coachella emerged during his time in prison for marijuana trafficking, the world-renowned festival is a lasting legacy of his nascent shows of the 1980s.
“This wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Gary,” says Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris, sitting in the band’s Coachella dressing room right after the band’s set. “It was more about him being a fan than it was about the business. He’s a total music freak.”
He was also a rock fan going back to the 1960s, as a teenager once seeing Jimi Hendrix perform in Maui. Tovar got his first taste of punk rock at the final Sex Pistols performance at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in January 1978. While intrigued, Tovar didn’t imagine a place for himself in that world until his sister, an early fan of punk, mentioned that bands from the then-controversial genre were having trouble finding gigs to play.
Beginning with a TSOL show in Santa Barbara on Dec. 4, 1981, Tovar dove in, eventually focusing on Los Angeles.
He named the company after a favorite strain of Thai marijuana. “They said when you smoked it, it was like the angels sang to you in a golden voice,” Tovar recalls with a smile.
For a logo, he turned to Black Flag bassist and SST Records co-founder Chuck Dukowski, who spelled out the Goldenvoice name in “Chinese”-style lettering left over from the cover art for the Minutemen’s “Paranoid Time” EP. (That same font is now used in the Coachella logo.)
By 1983, things took off quickly for Goldenvoice, but soon went off the rails with a riot at a TSOL and Social Distortion concert at the original SIR Studios on Sunset Boulevard. There was another riot at an Exploited show in Huntington Park. Tovar had another concert lined up for Wilmington headlined by the aggressively radical Dead Kennedys that he was calling “Storming the Docks,” if he could get police to sign off. Tovar met with the San Pedro Police, and he was asked, “What type of band is the Dead Kennedys?” Tovar says he looked up and saw an official portrait of President Reagan on the wall. “My mind clicked in. I said, ‘The Dead Kennedys are a tribute band to John and Robert Kennedy. Where do we sign?’”
That show also ended as a riot. “Oh, they got so mad,” Tovar says now. “I had to go in there with a little trickery, man.”
After his third consecutive riot, Tovar turned to the Olympic Auditorium, the impenetrable concrete bunker in downtown Los Angeles where he’d hosted Black Flag a year before. The venue, with a 5,000-person capacity just on the ground floor, was large enough to absorb any number of punks and others who wanted to attend, without leaving anyone outside to loiter or get in trouble.
Tovar fully expected that initial wave of punk rock euphoria to fade within a couple of years, and it did. “Punk rock is like a shooting star. I knew it wasn’t going to last,” he says. “At the end of ‘85, it was showing cracks. Too much violence. Girls didn’t want to come.”
After two years at the Olympic, and as punk crowds began to diminish, he moved many of his shows to the smaller Fender’s in Long Beach, expanding to other venues in Southern California as needed.
The Circle Jerks perform at the Sonora Tent during the first weekend of Coachella 2025. Tovar was one of the first promoters in L.A. to champion the punk legends. “[Coachella] wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Gary,” says Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris. “It was more about him being a fan than it was about the business. He’s a total music freak.”
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
As a leading proselytizer of punk and other alternative sounds, Tovar often partnered with promoters in other cities. It rarely meant a windfall for him. At one concert in Sacramento with the Ramones, he barely broke even. “I found a $20 bill in the parking lot,” he remembers. “That was my profit.”
His money was largely made elsewhere. “One of my hands was in punk rock, championing underground music that was on the fringe,” he says. “And my other hand was smuggling quality marijuana. We went for the quality.”
If anything, the pot business was accelerating. His role was to sail the marijuana from Colombia and Thailand to the U.S. When the drug trade in Colombia shifted away from marijuana to cocaine, Tovar turned toward Thailand.
“I did not believe in cocaine because marijuana is done with a handshake, and cocaine is done with a gun. I’m not a violent person,” Tovar recalls. “All the smuggling I did was done with diversionary tactics. I’ve still never shot a gun. I’m trying to go all the way.”
When one of his associates was arrested, Tovar knew it was only a matter of time before federal drug agents came to him. It turned out to be years, giving Tovar time to train his proteges Tollett and Van Santen. On March 8, 1991, the feds arrived at his home and arrested him, and he remained in custody until after his trial and the end of his sentence.
Ironically, by the end of 1991, music had shifted in his direction. “Eight months after I went in, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Chili Peppers broke,” he says. “I remember being in prison and saying, ‘Wow, I almost made it.’ It took a long time for enough people to come around.”
He shows no bitterness about spending years in prison for selling something that is now widely and openly available across the state. While in prison in Nevada, he heard about the new festival Goldenvoice was going to host in the desert. Once he returned, he hasn’t missed a single edition of Coachella.
Tovar is now a consultant to Goldenvoice. (The company was eventually sold to AEG in 2001.) He was especially active in last year’s No Values festival, which celebrated generations of punk rock, with the Misfits, Social Distortion, Iggy Pop and dozens more. As an extremely active concertgoer, he has a more informed opinion than most.
Backstage before the Circle Jerks set on Coachella’s opening weekend, a lot of old friends and admirers greet Tovar warmly. Among them is booking agent Andy Somers, who frequently had bands playing Goldenvoice shows in the ‘80s, with a roster that included the Circle Jerks, GBH, Megadeth, the Exploited and Testament.
Somers still has fond memories of Goldenvoice during that early chaotic period. “It was so DIY and so disorganized, with heart in the right place,” Somers says. “That’s what made it work.”
Gary Tovar at the 2025 Coachella in Indio on April 13, 2025.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
As he gets into a conversation with Tovar, the Goldenvoice founder reminds him that just securing a venue could be difficult at a time when punk was seen by many as the latest threat to society.
“We had to try to look for places to put these bands on,” Tovar says to Somers. “The Circle Jerks had a rowdy crowd. I mean, not anything abnormal. But punk rock back then, it had its exuberance.”
Somers smiles in agreement, and adds, “It was shocking. It scared the mainstream a little bit. You see a mosh pit and you watch it and go, ‘Is that supposed to be fun?’”
Also backstage is Rene Contreras, who books the Sonora stage (which was named by Tovar) and came into the Goldenvoice fold as a next-generation promoter who grew up a SoCal music fanatic. He was in his early 20s when he first met Tovar about 15 years ago, and knew him mainly as another fan he saw at shows everywhere.
“When I didn’t have a car, he used to give me rides to shows,” Contreras says. “It took me a while to unravel his history and legacy that he had in music. He’s out every night. He’ll call me at least three times a week and we talk about shows that are happening, or sometimes he even fills me in: ‘Have you heard of this band?’”
PHOENIX — Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday vetoed a Republican-backed bill intended to support the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown by requiring local and state officials to cooperate with federal enforcement efforts.
Under the proposal, local and state officials couldn’t prohibit or restrict cooperation with federal immigration efforts or block the use of federal databases and grant funds related to immigration enforcement.
It also would force cooperation on immigration detainers — requests from the federal government to hold onto people already in state custody until immigration authorities could pick them up.
“I will continue to work with the federal government on true border security, but we should not force state and local officials to take marching orders from Washington,” Hobbs said in her veto letter.
Supporters say the measure is needed to ensure federal authorities can safely and more easily take custody of immigrants, rather than having to track them down later after they have been released from state prisons or county jails.
Opponents say that the state should leave immigration enforcement to the federal government and that the cooperation required in the bill would be expensive for local governments to carry out and would harm the cooperation local police get from people in immigrant communities.
They also point out that immigration laws passed by the Arizona Legislature in the past have led to legal problems, such as a 2013 racial-profiling verdict against then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office for his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.
Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican from Gilbert, said his proposal aims to ensure that Arizona is a “partner and not an obstacle” where President Trump’s immigration efforts are concerned.
Under the bill, state prisons and county jails would be required to enter agreements with Washington to temporarily house people with detainers. Local agencies would be required to comply with detainers and tell judges who are determining bail when a given individual has an immigration detainer.
The bill would also require Arizona’s attorney general to investigate alleged violations of the cooperation rules and let the attorney general sue to bring an agency into compliance. Supporters say state-shared revenues to local government could be withheld until compliance is reached.
Arizona’s landmark 2010 immigration law also addressed the issue of state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The law bars state and local governments from limiting the enforcement of federal immigration law and lets residents sue over alleged violations.
State officials, immigrant rights advocates and an association representing counties say they are unaware of any such lawsuits being filed in the nearly 15 years since it was signed into law.
A little over a year ago, Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have made it a state crime for noncitizens to enter the state through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry. The Republican-led Legislature then bypassed the governor and voted to put a similar measure on the November 2024 ballot, which then won approval from voters.
Since Trump was elected back into office, Hobbs promised to work with his administration on issues such as combating fentanyl trafficking, but has acknowledged the worries some families feel about the immigration crackdown.
The governor has vowed to veto all bills sent to her until there is a compromise with lawmakers on funding for a state agency that provides services for people with developmental disabilities.
GOP lawmakers say Hobbs has mismanaged agency funds. She counters that Republicans are leveraging the crisis for “political warfare.” The governor has said she is willing to veto even bills that she supports.
Kudos to Dylan Hernández for his column “Dodgers are no longer agents of change,” noting the absurdity of a Dodger team going to the White House to meet Donald Trump. If anything, he was too gentle in pointing out the irony.
It was the Trump administration that removed mention of Jackie Robinson from a Department of Defense website as part of its effort to cancel anything that hints at diversity, equity or inclusion. They claimed later that it was a mistake and restored the Jackie Robinson article, but their only “mistake” was not realizing it would create an outcry. An Air Force webpage honoring Gen.Colin Powell, who was the first Black U.S. Secretary of State, and first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was removed, and replaced with the word DEI. It was not restored. The difference between the two groundbreakers is that Robinson is more visible and beloved. Deleting Colin Powell occurred without many people noticing.
Not to mention Trump’s efforts to destroy lots of “mom and apple pie” things like the Department of Education, the Post Office, Social Security, Medicaid, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Constitution. I think the Dodgers meeting the president only helped to normalize the insanity.
I don’t think many Dodger fans would have objected to their beloved team passing on the Trump visit.
Paul Koretz Los Angeles
The Dodgers, indeed, threw their fans a curveball. How hypocritical to visit Trump one week and then turn around and celebrate Jackie Robinson Day the next. Baseball is not immune to racial prejudice and, unfortunately, neither is this particular White House. We’ve just seen it up close and personal. Very disappointing!
Marty Zweben Palos Verdes Estates
Fueled by an intense hatred for Donald Trump, Dylan Hernández puts forth a feeble and biased argument against the Dodgers’ visit to the White House. His personal animosity toward Trump appears to cloud his already questionable judgment.
Visiting the White House is a time-honored tradition — a sign of respect for the institution of the presidency, not a blanket endorsement of any president’s politics. It’s about recognizing excellence, not playing politics.
Jackie Robinson, a man of immense grace, integrity, and principle, would have undoubtedly recognized the importance of the office and accepted the invitation with class. To suggest otherwise is to ignore the very values Robinson stood for.
Sam Chaidez Mission Hills
Please give Dylan Hernández the transfer out of the Sports department, he’s obviously very unhappy and wants to be in the political editorial division.
Rand Elkins Camarillo
First there was “The Curse of The Bambino.” Now it seems we have “The Curse of The Trump White House Visit.” So be it, I say.
William P. Bekkala West Hollywood
16-0! Love it! It’s the curse of the White House visit. Didn’t you ever read “Everything Trump touches dies?”
Vice President JD Vance and Cardinal Pietro Parolin meet Saturday morning in Vatican City, where Vance and his family are staying through Easter Sunday. Photo Courtesy of the Vatican
April 19 (UPI) — Vice President JD Vance and Cardinal Pietro Parolin discussed persecution against Christian communities and efforts to restore world peace Saturday morning in Vatican City.
During the cordial talks, satisfaction was expressed for the good existing bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States,” an unattributed Vatican statement said on Saturday.
“The common commitment to protect the right to freedom of religion and conscience was reiterated,” the statement said.
Vance and Parolin exchanged “opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions, and difficult humanitarian situations,” the statement said, “with particular attention to migrants, refugees and prisoners.”
Vance, who is Catholic after being baptized into the religion in 2019, was joined by his family during the visit to the Vatican. The visit comes amid the vice president’s diplomatic visit to Italy.
“I’m grateful every day for this job but particularly today, where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” Vance said Friday in a post on X.
“I had a great visit with [Italian] Prime Minister [Giorgia] Meloni and her team and will head to church soon with my family in this beautiful city,” he said.
Vance and his family participated in Good Friday services at St. Peter’s Basilica and will stay in Vatican City through Easter before traveling to India.
Vance did not meet with Pope Francis, who recently was hospitalized for respiratory problems, including pneumonia, and continues to recover.
It’s been an intense round of auditions for the Britain’s Got Talent judges and hopefuls – but now it’s time to gear up for the all new semi-finals
10:55, 19 Apr 2025Updated 19:28, 19 Apr 2025
Britain’s Got Talent new format explained (Image: ITV)
Britain’s Got Talent has been filled with drama and surprises this year – but the auditions have now come to a close. Now, it’s time for the successful stars to fight their way to the all important finals, as the semi-finals begin next week.
However, this year fans will see a number of huge differences in the upcoming semi-finals. This year saw the arrival of new guest judge KSI, but he’s not the only new addition. Here’s what changes of the talent show can expect to see starting from next Saturday…
Schedule changes
The semi-finals will now air across five weekends
Usually, fans would be used to watching the semi-final during an intense week of back to back live shows. This would often coincide with the school holidays to allow any young performers to take part. However, this year things are looking slightly different as the semi-finals will be airing weekly.
“Britain’s Got Talent will be more entertaining than ever before, not only with the addition of the Golden Buzzer for the live shows, but the semi-finals will now air live every Saturday night, claiming the weekends as the home of BGT. Be prepared for unpredictable, unmissable and unbeatable event television,” the channel said.
This now means that the final will be airing at a much later date than usual – with the 2025 series likely to crown its champion on Saturday 31 May. The BGT final has typically aired in June, however this year’s series began much earlier as it kicked off in February instead of the usual April date.
New Golden Buzzer rules
The Golden Buzzer will now be used in the semi-final
The Golden Buzzer has been a main feature of the audition rounds since it was launched back in series eight. Each judge, and hosts Ant and Dec get a press of the buzzer – meaning their favourite acts goes straight through to the semi-final without the risk of being cut by the judges.
Now, for the first time ever, the golden buzzer will be back for the semi-finals, meaning the judges or and Ant and Dec will be able to send one act straight through to the final.
Richard Arnold announced the exciting news on Good Morning Britain earlier this week. “For the first time in BGT history, the buzzer will now appear during the live rounds. It has already been pressed eight times this series,” he said.
ITV added: “In each semi-final, either one of the judges or Ant and Dec will be given control of the golden buzzer, and as soon as they see a performance worthy of a place in the final, they will have just one opportunity to press it.”
That act will be granted a one-way ticket to the final, along with one other act from that night who will be voted in by the public.”
Britain’s Got Talent Live Semi-Finals begin Saturday, April 26 at 7pm on ITV, ITVX and STV.
NEW YORK — Opponents of the Trump administration took to the streets of communities large and small across the U.S. on Saturday, decrying what they see as threats to the nation’s democratic ideals.
The disparate events included rallies in midtown Manhattan and in front of the White House and a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration marking the start of the American Revolutionary War 250 years ago.
Thomas Bassford drove from his home some three hours away in Maine to witness the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord and “the shot heard ’round the world” on April 19, 1775, that heralded the start of the nation’s war for independence from Britain.
The 80-year-old retired mason said he believed Americans today are under attack from their own government and need to stand up against it.
“This is a very perilous time in America for liberty,” Bassford said, joined by his partner, daughter and two grandsons. “I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”
Elsewhere, protests were planned outside Tesla car dealerships against billionaire Trump advisor Elon Musk and his role in downsizing the federal government, while others organized community-service events such as food drives, teach-ins and volunteered at local shelters.
The protests come two weeks after similar nationwide protests against the Trump administration drew thousands to the streets across the country.
Organizers say they’re protesting against what they view as President Trump’s civil rights and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and slash the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shutting entire agencies.
Some of the events drew on the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, calling for “no kings” and resistance to tyranny.
Boston resident George Bryant was among those who turned out in Concord. He said was concerned Trump was creating a “police state” in America as he held up a sign saying, “Trump fascist regime must go now!”
“He’s defying the courts. He’s kidnapping students. He’s eviscerating the checks and balances,” Bryant said. “This is fascism.”
In Washington, Bob Fasick said he came out to the rally by the White House out of concern about threats to constitutionally protected due process rights, as well as Social Security and other federal safety-net programs.
The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to close Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.
“I cannot sit still knowing that if I don’t do anything and everybody doesn’t do something to change this, that the world that we collectively are leaving for the little children, for our neighbors, is simply not one that I would want to live” in, said Fasick, a 76-year-old retired federal employee from Springfield, Va.
And in Manhattan, protesters on the steps of the New York Public Library rallied against continued deportations of immigrants.
“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” they chanted to the rat-ta-tat of drums, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Melinda Charles of Connecticut said she was most worried about what she viewed as Trump’s “executive overreach,” citing his clashes with the federal courts as he tries to force changes at Harvard and other elite colleges that he views as too liberal.
“We’re supposed to have three equal branches of government, and to have the executive branch become so strong, I mean, it’s just unbelievable,” she said.
Marcelo writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Claire Rush in Oregon, Joseph Frederick in New York, Rodrique Ngowi in Massachusetts and Nathan Ellgren in Washington contributed to this report.
April 19 (UPI) — Thousands of people across more than 400 cities demonstrated against President Donald Trump on Saturday, protesting his administration’s policies during the latest “day of action” organized by the 50501 movement.
The number in the anti-Trump movement refers to 50 protests in 50 states at one time, with over 400 planned on Saturday in the United States.
Video on social media showed demonstrations in several U.S. cities Saturday, all taking place in different styles.
“In all 50 states, local communities are taking action in their own way. Some are rallying or marching in the streets. Others are hosting food drives, teach-ins, mutual aid pop-ups, or voter registration events. Wherever and however people show up April 19, one thing is clear: This movement is growing – and it belongs to all of us,” reads a description on the 50501 website about the national day of action.
The group previously organized a mass “Hands Off” demonstration on April 5 for what it calls “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.”
The 50501 movement says its members are opposed to Trump’s approach to the economy and border, as well as what it sees as circumvention of U.S. laws to enact those policies. That includes appointing billionaire Elon Musk to head up the Department of Government Efficiency, which has tried to slash tens of thousands of federal jobs.
Protesters also rallied outside the United States.
The group Democrats Abroad posted video of a demonstration in Milan Saturday, which also marks 250 years since the start of the Revolutionary War, with the first gunshots fired in Massachusetts in 1775.
Separate demonstrations are also taking place Saturday aimed at Musk-owned EV maker Tesla.
