Month: April 2025

HIGH SCHOOL SCORES

Wednesday’s Results

BASEBALL

City Section

Cleveland 11, Marshall 2

Fremont 10, Mendez 2

Legacy 12, North Hollywood 1

Marquez 2, Bravo 1

Poly 2, Roosevelt 0

Sotomayor 5, Gardena 2

Southern Section

Adelanto 8, Granite Hills 2

Aliso Niguel 9, Capistrano Valley 1

Anaheim Canyon 7, Yorba Linda 2

Arroyo 5, El Monte 0

Arroyo Valley 12, Riverside Notre Dame 0

Bethel Christian 10, NSLA 0

Bishop Amat 3, Claremont 0

Bosco Tech 4, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 1

Brea Olinda 3, Sunny Hills 2

Carpinteria 3, Santa Ynez 1

Carter 8, Eisenhower 7

Chaffey 11, Diamond Ranch 2

Coast Union 14, SLOCA 13

Corona Del Mar 4, Marina 2

Cypress 5, Santa Ana Foothill 3

Damien 3, Upland 2

Dana Hills 2, Tesoro 1

Don Lugo 4, Chino 3

Dos Pueblos 5, Atascadero 1

El Segundo 8, North Torrance 5

Elsinore 10, San Jacinto 0

Entrepreneur 14, Packinghouse Christian 4

Etiwanda 13, Chino Hills 0

Faith Lutheran 8, Capistrano Valley Christian 4

Flintridge Prep 7, Salesian 1

Ganesha 12, Pomona 2

Gardena Serra 4, Leuzinger 3

Grand Terrace 3, Bloomington 0

Highland 19, Antelope Valley 0

Irvine 6, Portola 2

Hueneme 5, Rio Mesa 2

Huntington Beach 8, Los Alamitos 1

Jurupa Hills 5, San Gorgonio 4

Laguna Beach 7, Northwood 0

Laguna Hills 3, Costa Mesa 0

La Habra 3, Garden Grove Pacifica 0

La Mirada 6, Gahr 3

Lancaster 15, Knight 5

Littlerock 15, Palmdale 5

Loyola 6, Cathedral 0

Maranatha 3, Whittier Christian 1

Milken 3, Santa Clarita Christian 2

Mira Costa 4, Palos Verdes 2

Montclair 4, Ontario 2

Montebello 6, Schurr 1

Murrieta Valley 9, Murrieta Mesa 5

Newbury Park 4, Thousand Oaks 3

Newport Harbor 10, Fountain Valley 9

Oak Park 16, Hoover 4

Orange Lutheran 4, Santa Margarita 0

Pasadena Marshall 9, Gabrielino 3

Oaks Christian 12, Westlake 5

Quartz Hill 16, Eastside 2

Rancho Cucamonga 3, Los Osos 1

Redondo Union 4, West Torrance 1

Rialto 2, Colton 1

Rim of the World 4, Fontana 1

Rosemead 11, Mountain View 4

San Dimas 12, Alta Loma 7

San Jacinto Academy 5, Nuview Bridge 4

San Juan Hills 11, Lakewood 1

Santa Barbara 6, St. Bonaventure 1

Simi Valley 2, Bishop Alemany 1

SJDLCS 10, Desert Christian Academy 6

South Hills 7, Los Altos 0

St. Bernard 15, New Roads 2

St. John Bosco 7, Servite 0

St. Margaret’s 3, Sage Hill 1

St. Paul 5, Paramount 0

Summit 4, Kaiser 0

Temecula Prep 16, Santa Rosa Academy 0

Temescal Canyon 10, West Valley 3

Temecula Valley 14, Chaparral 2

Templeton 9, Millikan 3

Torrance 10, South Torrance 2

Tustin 5, Placentia Valencia 2

Ventura 4, Royal 3

Victor Valley 10, Barstow 0

Villa Park 7, El Modena 2

Vista Murrieta 8, Great Oak 5

Western Christian 11, Webb 7

West Ranch 7, San Marcos 2

Wiseburn-Da Vinci 3, Peninsula 2

Woodbridge 3, Irvine University 0

Intersectional

Agoura 3, Chatsworth 0

Anza Hamilton 15, Calipatria 4

Aquinas 13, Bishop O’Dowd 1

Bullard 4, El Camino Real 3

Chaminade 7, Taft 0

Clovis North 7, Carson 1

El Diamante 5, Garfield 4

Garces Memorial 13, South East 8

Gridley 7, Narbonne 5

South Gate 5, Long Beach Cabrillo 0

SOFTBALL

Southern Section

Arroyo 5, El Monte 2

Arroyo Valley 11, Rialto 2

Barstow 21, Victor Valley 3

Bethel Christian 24, NSLA 3

Bolsa Grande 12, Rancho Alamitos 11

Buena Park 6, Katella 0

Camarillo 13, Royal 3

Capistrano Valley 4, Dana Hills 2

Colton 10, Eisenhower 1

Corona de Mar 5, Estancia 3

Costa Mesa 14, Godinez 4

Desert Christian Academy 17, San Jacinto Leadership 5

Diamond Ranch 14, Chaffey 0

Don Lugo 12, Chino 4

Dos Pueblos 12, San Marcos 2

El Segundo 8, South Torrance 5

Elsinore 9, Tahquitz 0

Etiwanda 9, Rancho Cucamonga 0

Fontana 11, Riverside Notre Dame 8

Fullerton 8, Segerstrom 3

Garden Grove Santiago 10, Los Amigos 0

Grand Terrace 13, Jurupa Hills 0

Granite Hills 31, Adelanto 29

Heritage Christian 14, Golden Valley 4

Irvine 9, Northwood 6

La Canada 7, San Marino 0

La Palma Kennedy 17, Garden Grove 1

La Serna 11, Gahr 2

Loara 12, Orange 7

Los Altos 6, Alta Loma 2

Mountain View 8, Rosemead 4

Muir 4, Glendora 3

Murrieta Mesa 12, Murrieta Valley 7

Oaks Christian 4, Crescenta Valley 2

Ontario 8, Montclair 2

Palos Verdes 12, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 1

Quartz Hill 3, Highland 1

Redondo Union 10, Peninsula 5

Rosary 12, Irvine University 0

Santa Ana Valley 16, Westminster La Quinta 2

San Gorgonio 6, Bloomington 4

Savanna 11, Western 3

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 14, Harvard-Westlake 4

Sierra Canyon 17, Louisville 0

South Hills 15, San Dimas 3

Summit 5, Kaiser 2

Temecula Valley 20, Chaparral 3

Temescal Canyon 25, West Valley 0

Tustin 3, Santa Ana 0

Upland 13, Los Osos 1

West Torrance 5, Torrance 4

Astronomers have found the clearest evidence yet that life might exist beyond the solar system, from the atmosphere of a planet 124 light years away from Earth, setting off rare excitement – tinged with caution – in the global scientific community.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers led by astronomers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom have found chemical signatures of two compounds that on Earth are only produced by living creatures.

“These are the first hints we are seeing of an alien world that is possibly inhabited,” Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomy professor at Cambridge and the lead researcher behind the discovery, told reporters at a media briefing on April 15. “This is a revolutionary moment.”

So where is the planet that might possibly host life, what evidence have scientists found, and is there reason for scepticism?

Where did the scientists find this evidence?

The researchers relied on data captured by NASA’s James Webb telescope, which was carried into outer space in 2022, and sits about 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) away from Earth, as humanity’s watchtower peering into the universe.

They focused on one particular planet, K2-18b, because it had already shown promising signs as a candidate extraterrestrial body with conditions similar to those on Earth.

K2-18b lies in a constellation called Leo, and is so far away from Earth that a spaceship would need to travel for 124 years at the speed of light to get there. In reality, it would take much, much longer since the laws of physics don’t allow anything other than light to travel that fast.

The planet is 8.6 times heavier than Earth, and 2.6 times as large. Critically, it sits in what is known as the “Goldilocks Zone” of its sun: that’s the region around a star where a planet’s temperature could, in theory, support water in its liquid form on the surface.

In 2023, Cambridge astronomers found methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the planet.

That was the first time that carbon-based molecules had been discovered in the atmosphere of any planet in the habitable zone of its sun – the distance from a sun where it’s neither too hot, nor too cold, and so possible for life to survive. The scientists said that a surface covered first by an ocean, and then a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, would explain the presence of carbon-based molecules. Simply put, it was possible that the planet could have water.

What have the scientists found now?

Researchers have now found much harder evidence suggesting that the planet might not only have the conditions to host life – but could, at least in theory, be hosting life itself.

To explore planets light years away from Earth, scientists wait for them to pass in front of their suns. They study the light from the suns as it streams through the atmospheres of these planets, searching for clues.

That’s how the team found traces of either dimethyl sulfide (DMS) or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) – or both – in the atmosphere of K2-18b.

On Earth, these compounds are only produced by living beings, particularly microbes such as marine phytoplankton. What’s more, what the scientists found suggests that the concentration of these chemicals in the K2-18b atmosphere was thousands of times higher than on Earth.

“It was an incredible realisation seeing the results emerge and remain consistent throughout the extensive independent analyses and robustness tests,” said co-author Mans Holmberg, a researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, United States, in a media statement on the Cambridge University website.

How reliable are the findings?

The scientists published their findings in the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal Letters publication, which means that other experts in the field who studied their paper found it convincing.

But that does not mean that the scientists have found irrefutable evidence of life. Far from it.

Madhusudhan acknowledged that it is possible that the traces of DMS and DMDS found in the atmosphere of K2-18b are the outcome of chemical phenomena that are as of now, unknown to humanity.

“It’s important that we’re deeply sceptical of our own results, because it’s only by testing and testing again that we will be able to reach the point where we’re confident in them,” Madhusudhan said. “That’s how science has to work.”

His colleagues in the research team agreed.

“Our work is the starting point for all the investigations that are now needed to confirm and understand the implications of these exciting findings,” said co-author Savvas Constantinou, also from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy.

The findings of the Cambridge-led team follow a series of breakthroughs in recent years that have excited scientists about the possibilities of finding life beyond Earth.

In 2011, NASA scientists announced that they had found chemicals that are components of DNA on meteorites that had landed in Antarctica. The chemical traces they had discovered couldn’t have been the result of contamination after the meteorites landed on Earth. The only explanation – that asteroids and comets could contain the building blocks of life.

A year later, astronomers at Copenhagen University tracked down a sugar molecule in a distant star system. That molecule is an essential component of ribonucleic acid or RNA, a molecule that is critical for most biological functions.

In 2023, astronomers found traces of organic molecules in the gases around one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus.

And in mid-2024, scientists identified five greenhouse gases that they said would be telltale signs of life on any other planet.

But the journey of science is also about setbacks. In 2005, two NASA scientists claimed they had found potential traces of extraterrestrial life on Mars after they discovered signs of methane there. Yet those findings eventually did not hold up to scientific scrutiny and NASA distanced itself from their conclusions.

What’s next?

The Cambridge-led team has found DMS and DMDS with 99.7 percent certainty. But while that might sound like a near-perfect score, it is far from what is accepted as the benchmark for a new discovery by the exacting standards of science.

For their conclusions to be considered bulletproof, they need to get to what is known as the five-sigma threshold – 99.99994 percent certainty.

The astronomers believe that more hours on the James Webb telescope could help them reach that level of confirmation.

“Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach,” said Madhusudhan. “This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”

RIHANNA has once again proved she’s one of the hottest women on the planet with a new sizzling lingerie shoot.

The head-turning snaps were from her Savage x Fenty new bridal range – and the sexy star, 37, used one of her “six signature moves” to nail the shot.

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According to body language expert Judi James, the Umbrella singer used her fail-safe X move to ooze sex appeal. 

She told Fabulous: “Rihanna’s sensual signalling is uniquely powerful because it appears ‘bullet-proof’, with no off-switch.

“Her sexuality looks authentic and effortless, a natural state that doesn’t need building or creating, rather than a constructed one. 

“Unlike celebrity posers like the Kardashians, who go to hard-core extremes when it comes to their body sculpting in a desire for surreal levels of ‘perfection’, Rihanna’s incredible body shape is always shown to be less important in terms of impact and desirability than her body language signals and her facial expressions.

“This is why she avoids over-sculpting or over-working her poses, making her look and feel relaxed and relatable.

“Rihanna’s signature body language state is one known as the ‘purr’. It’s a languid, self-satisfied look that invites you to enjoy admiring her because she is enjoying posing.”

Rihanna’s bridal shoot featured bubblegum pink lingerie, instead of bridal white, but she modelled with a tulle veil to give a wedding effect. 

The singer – who shares RZA, three, and Riot, 21 months, with partner A$AP Rocky – posed in a glamorous ensemble which included a thong, thigh stockings and a bustier. 

Here, we look at Rihanna’s sexiest lingerie shoots over the years, and her six killer moves that make her one of the stunning women on earth….

1) The eye pout

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While Rihanna’s figure is undeniably eye-catching, it’s her signature eye expression that has always been the sexual vortex of her poses, according to Judi.

She shared: “Her body might look impossible sensual but it’s the unique eye-gaze that has always formed the ‘Rihanna look’. 

“Her large, cat-shaped eyes are elongated with liner but the very top section of the iris is covered by her slightly drooping eyelids to create an ‘eye pout’. 

“It’s a Marilyn Monroe trick that intensifies the sexual impact of any pose.”

2) Chin to shoulder pose

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When it comes to posing, Rihanna has a fail-safe trick up her sleeve – the chin to shoulder pose.

Judi explained: “This is another vintage glamour trick that blends well with Rihanna’s more relatable current look of edginess and attitude.

“The shoulder is raised, creating focus on the rounded flesh of her upper arm and her chin is dipped to signal a non-verbal, sultry invitation.”

3) Body ‘scrunching’

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While most celebrities try to elongate their bodies in poses to sculpt waists and ribcages as well as lengthen the look of the legs, Rihanna often tends to pose in a ‘scrunch’.

Judi shared how this means she brings in her chest, bum and knees all together in one compacted sexy bundle.

She added: “The pose suggests a lack of any precious pre-occupation with unreal body size or any exaggeration or over-display of any of her features. 

“It signals a very healthy confidence when it comes to her body shape and that confidence in turn creates enhanced desirability and engagement.”

4) ‘Hot mess’ styling

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Rihanna’s styling and her body language poses often don’t make a lot of sense and that’s what makes them sexier, says the body language expert.

Judi claims that instead of calling for the stylist’s brush and spray she just grabs at her hair to use it as a prop. 

The professional added: “Rihanna will pose against a child’s boat ride or against the most challenging backgrounds. 

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“There’s a blue fur coat thrown on over some hot red underwear and when she poses in bridal lingerie she adopts a non-bridal-looking attitude. 

“Posing heavily pregnant she propped herself up against some rolls of fabric for no relatable reason apart from they were there. 

“This ongoing trait of a lack of narrative or curated perfection in her poses signals a spontaneously sexy personality and despite her goddess status she’s never really lost the look.”

5) Post-coital, not pre

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While many celebrity glamour poses are “thirst traps” that invite viewers to admire them from afar, Rihanna goes for a different tactic, says Judi.

She shared: “Rihanna’s body language always tends to suggest she is posing just after having sex though. 

“Bypassing all the perfect styling and tweaked perfection, she recreates the gaze and more tousled pose of someone fulfilled and confident rather than aloof and unobtainable.”

6) Danger signals

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One of Rihanna’s go-to poses is crouching down on all fours – which goes against common glamour poses of posing upright to let gravity flatter their curves.

Judi added: “Rihanna tends to love the crawl/crouch look though, allowing the focus to centre on her angled bum and her challenging, dangerous-looking stare to camera. Hers is a very womanly sexuality rather than anything girlish. 

“Poses like this tend to create a direct and sensual look rather than any more indirect flirting.”

Israeli air attacks on tents in Gaza have killed at least 35 Palestinians in the past 24 hours. A strike on a camp sheltering forcibly displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’ burned several people alive.

BANK holiday weekend is the perfect time to brush up on your DIY skills.

But will any of the tool shops be open? Here’s everything you need to know about the Easter holidays.

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Are DIY stores open over Easter in 2025?

B&Q

All major DIY shops will be shut on Easter Sunday – including B&Q.

But it will be open normal hours for the rest of the weekend.

Good Friday, April 18: 7am – 8pm

Easter Sunday, April 20: CLOSED

Easter Monday April 21: 7am – 8pm

Screwfix

Screwfix will also be closed on Easter Sunday, but open for the rest of the weekend.

Good Friday, April 18: 6am – 8pm

Easter Sunday, April 20: CLOSED

Easter Monday, April 21: 6am – 8pm

You can find your nearest store here.

Wickes

Wickes will open for business as usual – except for on Easter Sunday.

Good Friday, April 18: 7am – 8pm

Easter Sunday, April 20: CLOSED

Easter Monday, April 21: 7am – 8pm

Homebase

Homebase will be closed on Sunday – but open for the rest of the weekend.

Good Friday, April 18: 8am – 8pm

Easter Sunday, April 20: CLOSED

Easter Monday, April 21: 8am – 8pm

Are DIY stores doing delivery over Easter?

B&Q

Home delivery from B&Q will be operating as normal over the Easter break.

Standard delivery costs £5, but it’s free for orders over £50.

They also offer a click and collect option – but orders cannot be collected on Sunday as the shop is closed.

Their website states that orders placed on or before Saturday 3 April will be available to collect on Monday 5 April.

Screwfix

Delivery will continue as usual – but delays are expected due to the bank holiday weekend.

Screwfix have asked customers to allow an additional 24 hours for their order to arrive.

Click & Collect is another option if you need your tools in a hurry.

Wickes

Wickes will continue as normal – but they are not able to deliver to all UK addresses.

Customers will have to enter their postcode online to check if they are eligible.

Slight delays can be expected over the Easter weekend.

A Click & Collect service is also available at Wickes.

Their website states that Click & Collect orders placed on or before Saturday 3 April will be available to collect from Monday 5 April.

Homebase

Homebase are still able to deliver your orders to you.

But delays are expected due to the high demand of orders.

They also offer a Click & Collect service.

Happy Thursday. I’m Corinne Purtill, a science and health reporter for The Times, filling in this week for the incomparable Sammy Roth.

Last week my family drove north from Los Angeles on State Route 99 toward Yosemite, exactly 157 years and five days after a 29-year-old John Muir set out on foot for the same destination from San Francisco.

There have, admittedly, been some changes in what is now Yosemite National Park since the Scottish-born naturalist began his hike equipped with little more than a pocket map and the confident assurance, he later wrote, “that Yosemite Valley lay to the east and that I should surely find it.”

Muir encountered a valley floor uncluttered by paved roads, or cars, or clusters of tourists gaping at the rock climbers dangling from El Capitan’s sheer face. But on the timescale of the geologic and glacial processes that shaped Yosemite, our visits occurred hardly a breath apart. Muir’s description of the marvel he found upon could have easily been written last week.

“The Valley, comprehensively seen, looks like an immense hall or temple lighted from above,” Muir wrote of his first impressions. “But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life . . . while the snow and waterfalls, the winds and avalanches and clouds shine and sing and wreathe about them.”

Yosemite’s timeless granite cathedrals and snow-melt-swollen waterfalls are awe-inspiring. Yet as we drove each day from our rented cabin in the nearby Stanislaus National Forest to the park’s western entrances, a very different sight rendered us speechless: acres upon acres of scorched landscape and charred, dead trees, the remains of once-lush forests devastated in the 2013 Rim fire.

The forests of the high Sierras have evolved to co-exist with fire. Blazes sparked by lightning or intentionally lit as part of indigenous land-management practices have been part of the ecosystem for millennia, clearing away invasive species and excess vegetation and encouraging new growth. Some native trees are “serotinous,” which means they rely on wildfire heat to trigger the dispersal of new seeds from their cones.

But the kind of massive, high-intensity, out-of-control wildfires sparked by a changing climate are something else entirely.

Ignited by a hunter’s illegal campfire on Aug. 17, 2013, the Rim fire consumed more than 257,000 acres (400 square miles) overall, including some 77,000 in the bounds of Yosemite.

One-third of that acreage burned hot enough to entirely destroy 75% to 100% of the standing trees, leaving essentially nothing of the original forest alive to regenerate, said John Buckley, a former hotshot firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service who is executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, a nonprofit that works on wildlife, water and ecology in the northern Yosemite region.

While controlled burns and wildfire management efforts carried out in previous years helped keep the Rim fire’s spread in check to some degree, the its and intensity still led to massive tree mortality in some areas, creating conditions ripe for the next megafire.

“Those are the places that really haunt us today,” said Scott Stephens, a UC Berkeley professor of fire science and forest policy.

More than a decade later, there are still up to 300 snags — dead standing trees — per acre in some of Yosemite’s most intensely affected areas, Stephens said. That translates to about 150 tons per acre of dead biomass in addition to any new growth that have sprung up, all of it a spark away from the next conflagration. “So,” he said, “the next fire in that system will be an intense one.”

There will undoubtedly be a next one. At the time it occurred, the Rim fire was the third-biggest in California’s recorded history. Some 12 fiery years later, it doesn’t even crack the top 10.

A national park is a miracle of time, a place to marvel that our puny run as a species managed to intersect with the eons-long processes that shaped these breathtaking landscapes.

Right now, they are also places that lay bare how rapidly human-caused climate change can transform these ecosystems in ways that render them inaccessible for the duration of our lifetimes.

I last visited Yosemite as a child with my parents, but my children did not see the same park I did, and they never will. The Rim fire made sure of that. Within the blip of a single generation, swaths of millennia-old forest were transformed into charred landscape that physically cannot return to their former state within the course of my lifetime, or that of my children.

With careful stewardship, replanting and responsible fire management, it would be possible to nurture a young forest that “would be probably pretty darn beautiful” within the course of a few generations, Stephens said. But that takes investment and personnel, things that are highly imperiled in the National Park Service under the current Trump administration. Representatives of the park contacted for this story declined to speak.

“If we did that work in there proactively, when the next Rim fire comes, I think easily 50% of the [tallest] trees would survive. It’d be a victory,” Stephens said. “But in the current condition, it’s just as vulnerable as what we saw the Rim fire burn into.”

Here’s what’s happening elsewhere in the world of climate change and the environment.

We’re starting to understand the scope of environmental contamination L.A.’s fires left behind.

Last week, as my colleagues Tony Briscoe and Hayley Smith reported, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released preliminary test results from hundreds of soil samples collected in areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires.

In somewhat encouraging news, samples from the Palisades area returned little evidence of contamination beyond some isolated spikes of heavy metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

The same could not be said for neighborhoods affected by the Eaton fire.

More than one-third of samples collected within the Eaton burn scar exceeded California’s health standard of 80 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil. Nearly half of samples just outside the burn scar’s boundary had lead levels above the state limit.

And downwind of the fire’s boundary, between 70% and 80% of samples surpassed that limit.

The county is for now shouldering the responsibility of contaminant testing because, as Tony first reported in The Times, the federal government has departed from a nearly two-decade tradition of testing soil on destroyed properties cleaned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after fires.

Previously, the Army Corps would scrape 6 inches of topsoil from cleared properties and then test the remaining earth. If those tests revealed lingering contamination, it would scrape further.

After 2018’s Camp fire in Paradise, testing on 12,500 properties revealed that nearly one-third still contained dangerous levels of contaminants even after those first 6 inches of topsoil were removed.

The county has so far shared only results from standing homes, which are not eligible for the Army Corps of Engineers cleanup. Results from parcels with damaged or destroyed structures are still pending.

Frustrated with the slow trickle of data coming from the government, some Altadena residents are taking testing into their own hands. This week my colleague Noah Haggerty reported on the efforts of a grassroots organization called Eaton Fire Residents United, which found lead in every single one of the 90 homes for which they’ve collected test results. Of those, 76% were above EPA limits.

On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to divert $3 million from the county’s 2018 $134-million settlement with lead-paint manufacturers to test residential properties that are both downwind and within one mile of the Eaton burn scar boundary. This is an issue The Times is following closely, and we’ll have a great deal more to tell you soon. All I can say for now is: Watch this space.

“Nobody wants to be in the center of chaos.”

That’s what almond farmer Christine Gemperle told Times reporter Ian James on his visit to Ceres, Calif., a farming community near Modesto. She was speaking about the fear and uncertainty that Trump’s tariff vacillations have created for farmers across California, the nation’s top agricultural exporter.

In 2022 alone, the state shipped nearly $24 billion of nuts, rice, tomatoes and other tasty goodness around the world.

But as China, Canada and other countries retaliate against U.S. tariffs by imposing their own taxes on American goods, California’s farming businesses could bear the costs, Ian reports.’

Canada, one of several unexpected bogeymen in the second Trump administration, is the top foreign buyer of California’s wine, strawberries, lettuce and oranges, among other agricultural exports, followed by the European Union and China.

But this productive trade relationship is beginning to fall apart. In addition to Canada’s 25% tariffs on many U.S. goods, Canadians have also begun to boycott American products.

Gemperle‘s 135 acre farm is among the California growers who together produce more than three-quarters of the world’s almonds. Things weren’t easy under the first Trump administration, she told Ian. The adoption of U.S. tariffs in 2018 prompted China to retaliate. Gemperle watched business slip away to places like Australia instead, she said.

It’s too soon to know how this trade chaos will play out, but the uncertainty is already keeping her up at night.

“Farming is uncertain and a risk and a gamble, as it is. We don’t need more of that,” she said. “It’s all just overwhelming.”

ONE MORE THING

The news from the sea has not been great lately.

The remains of a dead gray whale washed ashore last week in Huntington Beach. At least 70 more have died this year in Baja California’s lagoons.

Scores of sea lions and dolphins have been fatally poisoned in recent months by domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by harmful algal blooms. Animal rescue shelters are filling up with sick and starving brown pelicans and their malnourished orphaned chicks — further victims of the domoic acid outbreak.

So props to Times wildlife reporter Lila Seidman for finding a piece of positive marine news. And yes, since you were wondering — it does involve sunflower sea star sperm!

Sunflower sea stars thrived along the Pacific Coast until 2013, when a mysterious disease linked to a marine heat wave destroyed about 99% of California’s population. With their former predators out of the picture, purple sea urchins proliferated. Kelp, the urchins’ favorite food, collapsed. Lila reports on the efforts to revitalize the population through lab-raised sea stars. Read her fascinating story, which begins with an unexpected but well-timed release of sea star sperm just before a planned spawn.

“The nice thing is they had six males go off, and so [with] all that sperm . . . we can hit the ground running,” Lila’s source told her. Finally, a sea story with a happy ending.

This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our “Boiling Point” podcast here.

Captain Rachel Malcolm misses out with a concussion as Scotland make two changes for their Six Nations trip to England on Saturday.

Malcolm suffered a head knock in the 25-17 home defeat by Italy last weekend, as did scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden.

Fly-half Helen Nelson will lead the team in Malcolm’s absence.

Caity Mattinson takes over at number nine and Jade Konkel comes in at number eight as Evie Gallagher moves to blindside flanker in place of Malcolm.

Rachel McLachlan joins those two in the back row and will earn her 50th cap, while lock Becky Boyd stays in the team after making her first start against the Italians.

There are a trio of uncapped players on the bench, with Gemma Bell among the forward options, while Rhea Clarke provides scrum-half cover and centre Rachel Philipps could also make a potential debut.

Scotland opened with victory over Wales but are now fifth in the table after defeats by France and Italy.

England, aiming for a seventh successive title, lead the way with three bonus-point wins.

England have won all 23 Six Nations meetings with Scotland, the past five encounters settled by an aggregate score of 266-22.

“England have the ability to go through you physically, they also have the ability to go round you,” said head coach Bryan Easson. “They can suffocate you defensively.

“They have such a good team, one to 15, or should I say one to 40. No matter what changes they make, they have world class players coming in.

“It’s a huge task but one we are certainly up for.

“We were really disappointed with our performance against Italy so this is an opportunity to put that to bed and for this group to show the progress we have made.”

April 17 (UPI) — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was in Washington Thursday to meet with President Donald Trump to talk about the tariffs he levied on the European Union.

She will be the first European leader to meet with Trump since he announced the tariffs on European imports on April 2.

Meloni, the leader of the right-wing populist Brothers of Italy party has famously gotten along well with Trump, but where the two stand after Trump’s financial actions toward the EU is unclear.

Trump posted to his Truth Social account Thursday about his meeting with Japanese trade representatives Wednesday, and that he also spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, then added “every nation” wants to meet with him to discuss trade, and “Today, Italy!”

Trump announced a 20% tariff on all imported goods from the EU in April, which have since been lowered to 10% for 90 days, in order to allow for negotiations to occur. The EU also paused its retaliatory 25% tariffs on U.S. exports.

Italy exports several items to the United States, such as medical products, machinery, clothes, food and cars. However, Rome recorded a trade surplus of $43.9 billion with the United States, which may not sit well with Trump, who considers many of his tariffs “reciprocal” and are allegedly intended to level out trade balances with other countries.

At least one of Meloni’s political opponents in Italy mentions concerns that she may be too friendly with Trump to approach the tariff situation.

“In the Oval Office, Meloni will have to choose whether to continue to please Trump or defend the national interest that today coincides with the European one,” said Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, and Democratic Party member Peppe Provenzano in an X post Wednesday.

The 50-minute documentary 50 Years of Forgetting explores the enduring impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of contemporary Vietnamese. Prompted by a letter from an American veteran, filmmaker Mai Huyen Chi embarks on a personal and national investigation.

Chi’s quest begins by unravelling the story of her war hero grandfather who fought for the winning North, a figure shrouded in family silence. As that soon meets its dissatisfying end, she embarks on a journey across Vietnam and meets people whose lives were shaped by some of the most traumatic events of the war: the Battle of Hue in 1968, the Christmas bombing in 1972 and the fall of Saigon in 1975. Their experiences, filled with both resilience and loss, force Chi to confront her own family’s buried truths. She discovers the story of her aunt married to a pilot on the losing Southern side who fled, highlighting the war’s fracturing impact on Vietnamese families across generations.

The exploration becomes deeply personal. Chi confronts a harsh reality: Her own cousin suffers from the debilitating effects of Agent Orange, a cruel consequence of the war that continues to inflict pain on countless Vietnamese. By weaving these diverse narratives together, 50 Years of Forgetting transcends the Vietnam War to explore universal themes of conflict and its enduring legacies. Will past lessons be forgotten? Can Vietnam build a collective memory that honours the sacrifices of millions of people when those who endured years of brutality during the Vietnam War are trying so hard to forget?

PARIS — Dance has been a connective thread through all of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino’s shows. It hovered in the background of “Gilmore Girls,” made an apt setting for “Bunheads” and was a constant addition to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” But on “Étoile,” the couple’s love of ballet finally comes to the forefront.

The eight-episode series, streaming on Prime Video April 24, follows the behind-the-scenes drama of two fictional dance companies, Le Ballet National in Paris and Metropolitan Ballet Theater in New York City. Filmed in both cities with an international ensemble cast that includes real ballet dancers, it was a true cross-Atlantic effort — and a notably ambitious undertaking.

“We actually had this idea for a long time: What if Paris and New York ballet companies swapped dancers?” Palladino says. “We live in New York, so we know a lot of the theater community and the dance community. In ballet, they put on these beautiful, light, delicate, perfect performances. But behind the scenes it’s quite rough and tumble.”

“We always wanted to get back to dance after ‘Bunheads,’” adds Sherman-Palladino, a former ballet dancer herself. “It was really fun and it was cut off too soon, so we wanted to do a deeper dive into the real adult world of dance. Paris has the oldest ballet company and it goes back to the courts of the kings, while New York is the rough upstart. The juxtaposition of the old and the new gave us a story and an interesting backdrop.”

Sutton Foster as Michelle Simms, far right, teaching students in a 2012 scene from “Bunheads.” (Adam Taylor/ABC Family)

A group of dancers in a scene from “Étoile.” (Philippe Antonello/Prime)

On a chilly day last spring, that backdrop is on impressive display in Studios d’Epinay, one of Europe’s oldest studios, located north of Paris. Inside a giant soundstage, production designer Bill Groom and his team have constructed the rehearsal rooms, hallways and offices of Le Ballet National. It spans multiple interconnected rooms, including an ornate, columned dance space based in part on a rehearsal room in the real-life Palais Garnier, home to Paris Opera Ballet. There are chairs and sofas everywhere because Sherman-Palladino wants the dancers to have somewhere to hang out between takes.

“Dancers live 90% of their lives in four walls,” Sherman-Palladino says. “Everything’s inside of a building, and they go in that building in the morning and they stay there. We wanted to make sure that the interiors of the sets could accommodate life like that. As much as we were looking at the studios, it was also looking at the hallways and the hangout places and looking at where the couches were.”

After penning the pilot script themselves, Sherman-Palladino and Palladino assembled a six-person writers’ room that included former dancer Daisy Long and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” actor Gideon Glick. The pilot established the show’s premise: Facing faltering ticket sales, Le Ballet National director Geneviève (Charlotte Gainsbourg) suggests swapping talent with Metropolitan Ballet Theater to generate publicity and, in turn, save the art form. Its director, Jack (Luke Kirby), is initially resistant but ultimately agrees to a trade. Star ballerina Cheyenne (Lou de Laâge) arrives in New York as former Parisian Mishi (professional ballerina Taïs Vinolo) returns to her hometown, causing ripples in their respective dance companies.

The writers conceived several episodes ahead of production, which shifted from Paris to New York and back to Paris last year. But they also wanted to leave space for change on set — something Sherman-Palladino and Palladino, who each direct on the series, also did on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

“This was a really big ensemble cast,” Palladino says. “It was bigger than we normally do, and it’s not about a family. So there was a lot to learn about the dynamics between all the characters as we got to know the cast’s strengths. We don’t necessarily write everything in advance [of filming] because then you get to bob and weave as you discover what works within a show.”

“They’re so good at creating characters but then seeing what people bring to it and adjusting from there,” says Glick, who plays neurotic New York choreographer Tobias Bell. The character is a fish out of water when he’s transferred to Paris, but he soon finds an unexpected ally in egotistic dancer Gabin (Ivan du Pontavice). “It was always evolving as we were filming.”

Gainsbourg, traditionally a film star, initially was hesitant to be part of a TV series because she doesn’t like to feel rushed when shooting. But she found “Étoile” to be an easygoing set with plenty of time for multiple takes. Plus, Sherman-Palladino and Palladino were amenable to her perspective on Geneviève, an overburdened, passionate woman with a messy personal life.

“They were open to everything I had to say about her,” Gainsbourg says. “From what I wanted in her office to how I wanted to embody the character. They were so generous in that sense. I was curious to understand that world because I’ve really had nothing to do with it. I watched documentaries, and I met with the director of the opera and the director of the ballet in Paris.”

In “Étoile,” Jack (Luke Kirby) is the executive director of New York’s ballet company, while Cheyenne (Lou de Laâge) is a star ballerina from Paris.

(Philippe Antonello / Prime Video)

Gainsbourg also helped to guide some of the French dialogue, pointing out when a line or a word didn’t ring true. The writers completed each script in English and then handed them over to translators. But at first, some of the jokes weren’t landing. Eventually, translator Dany Héricourt came onboard to ensure that the couple’s signature snappy dialogue worked in both languages.

“The French speak very quickly,” Sherman-Palladino says. “Periods mean nothing for them. So if it’s five sentences, it sounds like one very quick, long sentence. We’d have to turn to Danny and go, ‘Is it funny?’”

“We were in the unprecedented situation of having to ask an actor to slow down,” Palladino adds.

Kirby had previously collaborated with Sherman-Palladino and Palladino on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” playing comedian Lenny Bruce. He was supposed to appear in only one episode of that show, but everyone loved his performance so much he became an integral part of the story. They later wrote Jack specifically for Kirby.

“I didn’t ask about his trajectory because, inevitably, it was going to change,” Kirby says. “When we had our first conversation I did ask whether he was a former dancer. I thought that was compelling. But he simply is a man who was born into a world that allowed him access to a lot of dance. And luckily, he has great affection for it.”

Other mainstays of the Sherman-Palladino universe appear throughout “Étoile.” Yanic Truesdale plays Geneviève’s assistant Raphael while Kelly Bishop guest stars as Jack’s mother and Dakin Matthews pops in as a member of the theater’s board. Simon Callow is a new addition as a problematic billionaire funding Metropolitan Ballet Theater, as is David Haig, who plays its ailing artistic director.

“Amy and Dan and I have known each other for so long and there’s such a comfort level there,” Truesdale says. “It was important to me that I didn’t give the audience Michel [from ‘Gilmore Girls’] again. I’m French with a female boss, but I didn’t want it to be the same dynamic. Michel was suffering all the time and Raphael is 100% committed and in service of Geneviève.”

“When you work with the best people, you want to continue to work with the best people and you get spoiled,” Sherman-Palladino says. “And it makes writing for people so much easier because you know they’re going to be able to do it.”

Other casting was more meta: New York City Ballet principal dancers Unity Phelan and Tiler Peck and Boston Ballet principal dancer John Lam appear in the series. Actor David Alvarez, who once led “Billy Elliot” on Broadway, plays dancer Gael. He performed all of his own choreography — as did Vinolo — and he had to perform each sequence twice, once with de Laâge and once with her dance double, Constance Devernay-Laurence. Like the rest of the cast, he trained extensively ahead of and during filming.

“It was an interesting process to figure out this character because it’s so similar to me and my life,” Alvarez says. “I’m pretty sure Amy stalked me for quite a bit trying to figure out who this character is. The way they work is different than any other project I’ve done before. They rehearse a lot more. I’m used to just showing up on set and shooting the scene without ever even meeting the actors sometimes. But here there was a lot of camaraderie.”

Cheyenne (Lou de Laâge), a Parisian dancer sent to New York City in “Étoile.”

(Philippe Antonello / Prime Video)

De Laâge took on the challenge of not only training as a ballerina but also learning English. Cheyenne is fiery and brash — in one scene she rejects a series of dance partners by describing a murder — but de Laâge imbues her with emotional complexity. Of all the characters, she offers the best understanding of the compulsion ballerinas have to keep dancing.

“I will never be an étoile, because it’s too complicated and it’s a job,” de Laâge says. “But it’s been interesting to work with real dancers and learn about their career and all the complex things they do. The body is telling a story. I now understand how hard each movement is because ballet is not like gymnastics or a performative art. It can be more graceful and subtle and delicate but so complicated too.”

Onscreen, it’s impossible to tell when in a dance sequence it’s de Laâge and when it’s Devernay-Laurence. Same with du Pontavice and his double, Arcadian Broad. On set in Paris, the afternoon involves a scene where Tobias pushes Gabin to learn new choreography. To shoot it, du Pontavice and Broad are dressed identically as Gabin.

Series choreographer Marguerite Derricks, a longtime collaborator with Sherman-Palladino, has taught both performers the sequence. First, du Pontavice acts out the entire scene with a rudimentary dance performance. Then, Broad enacts the exact same scene with more precise moves and an impressive leap. The camera shifts so that du Pontavice can hop back in for the final shot. Later, the VFX team will seamlessly impose du Pontavice’s face on Broad’s body.

“The emotions still have to match,” Derricks explains. “When I rehearse them, I really talk about what they’re feeling. They’ve both learned the choreography exactly. When Ivan does the Superman leap, he doesn’t get the same height as Arcadian, but he does the whole thing.”

Overall, Derricks choreographed dozens of rehearsals and performances for “Étoile.” She also reimagined famous choreography from ballets like “The Nutcracker” and “Sleeping Beauty.” She cast a group of 20 ballet dancers from Paris and 20 in New York, along with additional dancers to fill in larger scenes. Every dance sequence in the series is there for a narrative or emotional reason.

“All of the dance had to push the story forward,” Sherman-Palladino says. “If we’re doing a dance, there’s a reason that we’re doing the dance. We’re not just stopping for a dance number. As long as it suited the script, we did it. The dancing was the most fun and, frankly, the easiest part of the show.”

Because “Étoile” isn’t just about what happens onstage, every detail had to be precise and as accurate as possible. Groom combined the New York and Paris sets with real theater spaces to build out the worlds of Le Ballet National and Metropolitan Ballet Theater. In Paris, the series shot in the Palais Garnier, including inside the costume studio, where tutus famously hang from the ceiling, as well as Théâtre du Châtelet and Opéra Comique. In New York, the production used Lincoln Center and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

A group of ballet dancers gather in a scene from the Prime Video drama “Étoile.” “We always wanted to get back to dance after ‘Bunheads,’” says co-creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, a former ballet dancer herself.

(Philippe Antonello / Prime Video)

“We have to be aware of what you see in the wings when the cameras on the stage are following the performers,” Groom says. “As an audience member seated in the house, you don’t see into the wings usually, so we had to make that real as well. We knew we would be shooting in hallways and outside the rehearsal spaces too, so we needed to experience the space the way the dancers would.”

Accuracy also was essential to costume designer Donna Zakowska, who won an Emmy for her work on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” She and her team designed and made more than 200 ballet costumes alongside rehearsal outfits for the cast, who sometimes numbered up to 60 on a given shooting day.

“I’ve danced my whole life and dance is such an exalting, exciting human expression,” Zakowska says. “I always think about clothes and how they move. Before this, though, I had no idea tutus require 13 layers of net. It became far more complicated than I initially imagined. And you really have to respond to the dance and how each performers approaches it.”

At first, those in the real-life ballet world approached by the production were skeptical of “Étoile.” Palladino says it’s because the dance world “has been burned by some of these movies and TV shows that lean into the darkness.” But “Étoile” is also about the hopefulness of the art form and its potential to elevate the human experience.

“People were wary, but as things went on, they saw the show was really about the dancers,” Sherman-Palladino says. “They aren’t window dressing. It’s about them and their stories, and that was important to us. We’ve been dealing with dancers for so long on our shows, and I was a dancer. Making this brought back a lot of memories.”

She adds, with a grin, “It also made me feel a little sad that I stopped because your ass is so perfect when you dance.”

WASHINGTON — With cameras rolling in the Oval Office, President Trump told reporters this week that he would carefully study the law before deciding whether to exile Americans accused of violent crimes to prisons overseas, where, according to his administration, U.S. courts are powerless to respond.

Yet before the press arrived, Trump shared a different, less equivocal message with El Salvador’s dictatorial president, Nayib Bukele, who has already built sprawling maximum security complexes in service of Trump’s scheme to deport noncitizens out of legal reach.

“Homegrowns are next,” Trump told Bukele, using a euphemism for U.S. citizens, captured on a livestream from Bukele’s office. “You’ve got to build about five more places. It’s not big enough.”

The legal world has been on notice for a constitutional clash ever since Trump resumed office in January, meticulously analyzing a series of court rulings that challenge the White House and following the administration’s reluctant, often defiant, response.

But constitutional scholars see no ambiguity in the consequences of the president’s latest threat. Trump’s plans to forcibly remove U.S. citizens abroad — under any circumstances — is the bright red line they have been waiting for.

‘Zero legal authority’

The question scholars are asking themselves isn’t whether Trump’s proposal is legal: Case law dating back to the 1950s makes clear it is not. They are questioning whether anything can stop Trump from a policy that endangers fundamental American freedoms.

“The courts have made it clear that the president can’t ship people abroad and deny them liberty without due process of law, and then claim that he is powerless to effectuate their return, rendering the courts powerless to stop such illegal conduct,” said Harold Koh, former legal advisor of the State Department and former dean of Yale Law School, where he is now a professor.

“Nothing in the Constitution empowers the president to be Extraterritorial-Warden-in-Chief,” Koh continued. “He can’t secretly skirt the law enforcement process by shipping prisoners abroad without following carefully negotiated extradition treaties. The courts have jurisdiction over foreign affairs, and, as important, they have jurisdiction over him and his subordinates, who are in Washington, D.C.”

The arrest and frenzied deportation of lawful permanent residents and other noncitizens, often without the opportunity of a court hearing, has set off alarms in the legal community that the administration is willing to deny individuals due process — the basic right of any person in the United States, citizen or otherwise, to have a court, not a president, determine their liberty.

But if the Trump administration is willing to deny due process to noncitizens — against direct court orders to reverse course — what is preventing it from doing the same to U.S. citizens?

And what is stopping Trump from expanding his criteria for such treatment, beyond those accused of violent crime to other activities deemed offensive to the president?

“There’s no legal mechanism — none — for ‘deporting’ citizens,” said Stephen Vladeck, a prominent Supreme Court scholar and professor at Georgetown University Law Center. “If he’s talking about sending citizens to serve prison sentences for crimes in a foreign prison, that’s something else entirely — for which there is precisely zero legal authority.”

‘More primitive than torture’

Even when granted due process, punishing a U.S. citizen found guilty of a crime with removal from the country is unconstitutional, according to a Supreme Court ruling, Trop vs. Dulles, from 1958.

That ruling found that stripping an American of their citizenship, or denying that citizen entry into their homeland, is barred by the 8th Amendment and would amount to “a form of punishment more primitive than torture.”

Noncitizens, too, have the right to due process in an American court when in U.S. custody — even if they are being held overseas. Ruling against the Bush administration over the detention of a foreign national at Guantanamo Bay in 2008, the Supreme Court found that the inmate had the right to challenge his detention before a U.S. judge, known as a writ of habeas corpus.

“The Nation’s basic charter cannot be contracted away,” the court ruled. “To hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this Court, say ‘what the law is.’”

Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law, said the right of an American to remain in their country is “perhaps the only truly unconditional constitutional right.”

“Our government can do many things to us, including imprisoning us and even killing us in some states, but there are no conditions under which it can force a citizen to leave the country,” Arulanantham said.

Jamal Greene, a professor at Columbia Law School, said there is “no constitutional or statutory authority for the president to expatriate U.S. citizens.”

“It would be an unconstitutional abuse of power and would violate the most fundamental privilege of citizenship, namely the right to remain in the country,” Greene said.

‘The constitutional crisis is here’

Precipitating the crisis was the Trump administration’s deportation of a man with legal status in the United States from El Salvador, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, back to the country, after a court had ruled against doing so over fears for his safety.

The Trump administration initially said that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was the result of a clerical error. But after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the administration must work to “facilitate” his return, the White House burrowed down, stating it was powerless to bring Abrego Garcia back without El Salvador’s consent. Regardless, returning him would be futile, said the president’s aides, as his ultimate fate would be imprisonment, in the United States or elsewhere.

David Strauss, a law professor at the University of Chicago who frequently argues before the Supreme Court and is the author of “The Living Constitution,” said the administration had created a false legal construct in arguing that courts cannot tell El Salvador, a foreign government, what to do with its nationals. Trump never asked Bukele to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return during their meeting on Monday.

“This isn’t a matter of U.S. courts telling foreign governments what to do. The U.S. courts would tell U.S. officials what to do,” Strauss said. “If a U.S. official has control over whether the U.S. citizen is held in a foreign prison, a court can tell that U.S. official to get the citizen returned to the U.S.”

In a lengthy video posted to social media Tuesday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the administration’s disregard of a Supreme Court order had created an emergency.

“The constitutional crisis is here,” Schiff said, “because the administration is under a court order to return this wrongfully deported man to the United States — to facilitate his return. And far from taking any step to facilitate his return, in that meeting in the White House, Donald Trump essentially told the Supreme Court to pound sand.”

What can the Supreme Court do?

Abrego Garcia’s case is likely to return to the Supreme Court, with a U.S. district judge, Paula Xinis, telling the Justice Department this week that the administration had done “nothing” to work toward his return.

Whether the Supreme Court speaks more definitively in its next ruling on the matter remains to be seen. But such an order would provide the basis for the standoff that lawmakers, legal scholars and the public have been bracing for.

In a separate case, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Wednesday that “probably cause exists” to find Trump administration officials are in criminal contempt over their refusal to follow his orders. Boasberg had directed the administration to halt deportation flights of Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act.

Robert Weisberg, a professor at Stanford Law School, noted that the Supreme Court does have tools at its disposal to enforce its rulings, such as the issuance of injunctions on administrative actions and the deployment of U.S. Marshals. But that law enforcement agency, established in principle to enforce judicial decisions, is housed under a U.S. attorney general appointed by the president.

Norm Eisen, co-founder of the States United Democracy Center and counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment trial, said that multiple mechanisms are still in place to enforce court rulings.

“If there is that defiance of a final Supreme Court order, the courts as a whole have the power to take enforce actions, and that can range from sanctions deciding issues in a case, civil contempt, criminal contempt — the full toolkit,” Eisen said.

“Certainly, Trump’s constitutional contempt is ratcheting up,” he said. But “there’s a reason Trump keeps saying he won’t defy court orders — because he knows that defiance will bring very bad consequences down on him.”

What else you should be reading

The must-read: Salvadoran president says he won’t return man wrongly deported from U.S.
The deep dive: Defying courts in deportation cases, Trump risks a tipping point, experts say
The L.A. Times Special: Trump’s visa policies have foreign musicians on edge

More to come,
Michael Wilner

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Hey everyone, I’m Dan Woike and welcome to The Times Lakers newsletter, a weekly look into the slow descent madness of a writer who attended every single game the Lakers played this season. Oh, and there’s usually a dad rock song at the end.

It’s been a long season that’s felt even longer thanks to the Lakers having like five different versions of their team from training camp until now. The first batch doesn’t matter any more. It’s who they are now. And who they are now is about to face a big test in the first round of the playoffs.

So I called some of my friends around the NBA, a Western Conference scout, an Eastern Conference scout, a West executive and a West assistant coach to ask them how they thought the Lakers and the Timberwolves would fare against one another. Each was granted anonymity to speak freely about the two rosters.

Here’s what they said:

Lakers-Timberwolves breakdown

Minnesota’s biggest strengths

“Their strength on the whole is the defensive end. Ball pressure, size, and just, rebounding. Like they make you shoot over their length and then they rebound the ball,” the East scout said.

“We struggled getting the ball across half court at times,” the West coach said. “Their ball pressure is elite. …They speed you up. They pressure you. They’re active all over the place.”

“Who is going to guard (Anthony Edwards)?” the West exec said. “I think the Lakers’ lack of perimeter defense has been masked because they can be big, but Minnesota is big. But when you slow down and seek out matchups, they’ll target Austin (Reaves) and go at him.”

“Rudy (Gobert) is Rudy, and a lot of people don’t like him and he has his warts. But what Rudy does is protect the rim as good as almost anybody in the league. And obviously there’s some controversy with him. He’s been played off the floor in certain series. …But when you talk about defense, he does protect the rim as good as anybody in the league in the last decade. And what it does is it gives their perimeter defenders — the Nickeil Alexander-Walkers, the Jaden McDaniels, the Ants, DiVincenzos — he gives those guys the freedom to really just pick up and pressure ball handlers.”

The Lakers’ biggest strengths

“Luka frickin’ Doncic,” the West scout said with a laugh.

“Luka has a comfort level playing against bigs. And they’re huge. They’re big, athletic and the fly around. And Gobert is not a slouch. And I know Luka’s done him dirty in the past, but he’s in the fight,” the West coach said. “…If Conley’s out there, you’ve got to make them pay. On the other end, you have to make the ball find Gobert. …I don’t love Julius Randle’s matchup against them. L.A.’s full of big, physical forwards. I think he’s going to have a tough series creating his offense and offense for others. … I think the advantage the Lakers have is that they have three guys who are really high-level playmakers in the half court.”

“You can always have two of (Doncic, LeBron James, Reaves) on the floor, which is helpful,” the West executive said. “For a team that lacks depth past eight guys, that gets mitigated some in a playoff series where you can play guys 40 minutes and not feel like you’re running guys into the ground.”

“One of the things the Lakers do a really good job of is they’re gonna make McDaniels, Conley, Rudy Gobert, Jaylen Clark and Alexander-Walker shoot a lot of shots. They do a really good job of trying to force the guys like those guys to shoot. …They’re really smart,” the Eastern Conference scout said.

“Rudy isn’t going to punish smaller guys. I remember when LeBron, when he guarded Kendrick Perkins in the Finals,” the East scout said. “…what he’ll do is he’ll push Rudy out and they’ll meet him with their body on their path to the rim and force him to shoot four and six-foot little shots and he’ll miss ‘em and they’ll go away from it. And then they’ll probably end up going small. And Nas Reed’s not a good defender.”

“The Lakers have better players. Minnesota has dogs,” the West coach said. “….You have to find ways for LeBron to make Luka’s life easier and for Luka to make Austin’s life easier.”

The overall vibe

“I think it’s going to be a pretty good series. It’s going to be a little bit of a microcosm of Memphis-Golden State, good smalls vs, good bigs and which style is going to win out,” the West executive said.

My take

I think in talking with the experts I consulted, the expectation is for the Lakers to win a tough series. Minnesota’s defensive versatility on the perimeter combined with Anthony Edwards’ dynamic scoring are the biggest reasons of concern. The Lakers big three on offense, led by Doncic, are all incredibly smart players that have withstood real defensive challenges in the playoffs.

There’s a lot of confidence in the Lakers’ small-ball lineups league-wide, though people want to see the back end of their rotation do enough on offense to be able to play real minutes.

Again, the overall gist is that everyone expects this to be pretty competitive basketball between two good teams.

Song of the Week

“Pack it Up” by CHEEKY LEASH

Australian surf rock? Australian surf rock! It’s that time of year where I keep the suitcase close to the door, but this year, that’s more out of habit. By avoiding the play-in and securing the No. 3 seed, the Lakers will get 11 straight nights at home before heading to Minneapolis for Game 3 of the series. Then, it’ll be time for me to pack it up.

In case you missed it

How Austin Reaves earned his place among the Big 3 on the Lakers

Bronny James got A+ rookie grade from JJ Redick before first Lakers start. Then LeBron’s son struggled

How do the Lakers match up against the Timberwolves entering their playoff series?

Plaschke: JJ Redick for Dan Hurley was the Lakers’ trade of the year

Lakers effectively playing small ball with Luka Doncic at the helm

LeBron James is plastic, it’s fantastic: Mattel unveils Ken doll modeled after Lakers star

What feud? Shaq agrees to walk Dwight Howard out at Hall of Fame induction: ‘That’s my guy’

The 2025 World Press Photo of the Year has been awarded to Samar Abu Elouf, a Doha-based Palestinian photographer, for her poignant image of Mahmoud Ajjour, a young boy severely injured while fleeing an Israeli attack in Gaza.

Captured for The New York Times newspaper, the photograph powerfully conveys Mahmoud’s suffering and resilience after an explosion in March last year left one of his arms severed and the other mutilated.

Since her evacuation from Gaza in December 2023, Abu Elouf has been documenting the experiences of individuals like Mahmoud, who sought medical treatment abroad.

Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, an Amsterdam-based organisation, described the image as “quiet” yet deeply impactful, capturing the intimate suffering of one child while also speaking to the wider repercussions of global conflict.

The winner and two finalists were announced on Thursday, during the press opening of the World Press Photo Exhibition in Amsterdam. The exhibition will travel to more than 60 locations worldwide, showcasing some of the year’s most compelling and visually striking stories.

For 70 years, the World Press Photo Contest has honoured the best in photojournalism. This year’s contest received at least 59,000 submissions from photographers in 141 countries, featuring powerful stories of struggle, defiance, warmth and courage.

Here are some of the top images of this year:

Woodland Trust

‘Good faith’

Paul Whiteing

Oban is a resort town with a population which swells to three times its size during the high season, when people from far and wide stop by for a whole host of different holiday reasons

Oban, a coastal town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, is not only picturesque but also a hotspot for fish and chips. This resort town sees its population triple during the peak season as visitors from all corners of the globe come for various holiday pursuits.

I visited Oban as part of a trip to the Hebrides, first stopping at the beautiful island of Lismore – one of the few remaining places in the UK with ancient rainforest and renowned for its diverse flora – and then onto the Isle of Coll, which hosted Detour Disco last year, writes the Mirror’s Milo Boyd. While on Coll, a guide couple from Tartan Tours showed us around the island, sharing interesting facts about the landscape and explaining that much of their work involves guiding American retirees around Oban and its surroundings.

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The coastal town serves as a hub for those keen to explore their Scottish heritage, given its close proximity to ancient forts Tefour Broch and Castle Coeffin. The countryside around the town was once the territory of Clan MacDougall, who ruled over much of the Hebrides.

Oban’s moniker, ‘the gateway to the Highlands’, and the sight of Americans strolling its streets and examining tartan biscuit tins in the many souvenir shops, clearly attest to its reputation.

Unlike other popular tourist spots such as North Coast 500 stops or Pitlochry, where Highland Coo fridge magnets and kilt shops are abundant, Oban maintains a tolerable level of such trappings.

In essence, it has the vibrancy of a frequented destination but also retains the feel of a place that is lived and worked in during the off-peak season.

During my stay, I dined at the Olive Garden restaurant, a charming Italian establishment located on the docks, and at the Taj Mahal curry house, which served us generously portioned meals after a long, significantly delayed train journey from London. If you find yourself in Oban, not visiting one of the local chip shops would be a missed opportunity.

The exceptional quality of its fried food outlets and the freshness of the seafood they offer have earned Oban a place on Tripadvisor’s list of the UK’s top eight fish and chip shops.

“In most British coastal towns, you’re never more than a stone’s throw from a fish and chip shop, but Oban – which derives its name from the Gaelic term for ‘little bay’ – is so blessed with the bounty of the surrounding waters that it’s been dubbed ‘the seafood capital of Scotland‘,” says the travel review website.

“The area’s bracingly chilly inlets teem with langoustines, lobsters, oysters, scallops, and mussels, which can be enjoyed in restaurants like the Michelin-recommended Etive and the tartan-carpeted dining room at The Manor House Hotel Oban, which occupies the 1780 Georgian estate of the 5th Duke of Argyll.

“Also dating back to the 18th century: The Oban Distillery, one of the smallest in Scotland, celebrated for its Highland-style single-malt whiskey.”

While there is much to do in the town – including stopping for a pint on the dockside, 234-year-old Oban Inn – its strength as a destination is found in the easy access it offers both to the Highlands and to the Hebrides.

Many passenger and car ferries leave from the docks each day, heading to many of the islands to the top of the chain.

Warning: Contains spoilers. Married At First Sight’s wife swap experiment was rocked by a huge bedroom scandal after a bride and groom lied about sleeping alongside each other

Married At First Sight’s ‘wife swap’ week is always controversial. But this year’s couples took it a step further, with a ‘bed swap’ scandal rocking the experiment.

During the week, which is now being aired in the UK, couples are paired up with a different bride or groom to spend a few days with, and they move in together too. It can really decipher between the strong and the weaker partnerships, as everyone gets a grilling about their relationship from their new partner, as they share their outsider perspective.

During the challenge, which has already been shown to Australian audiences, Rhi Disljenkovic, who was married to Jeff Gobbels, was paired up with Eliot Donovan, who was married to Veronica Cloherty. While Rhi and Jeff were seen as one of the strongest couples, it’s emerged Rhi and Eliot lied to producers about their sleeping routine during the wife swap.

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It turns out the pair got pretty close while filming together, and according to an insider, who told Daily Mail Australia, Rhi and Eliot shared a bed during the week, and producers only found out as Rhi’s husband Jeff had allegedly ratted them out. Jeff was paired up with Jacqui, who he agreed to sleep separately from.

But after complaining about a ‘bad back’ Jeff “suggested they share the bed instead.” He then said it was justified as his wife had done the same. Eliot also hadn’t told Veronica he’d shared a bed with Rhi, and Veronica was shocked when she found out.

The source claimed: “I’m unsure how it will all play out on TV, but Eliot flat-out lied to Veronica [about sharing a bed with Rhi]. He assured her he had slept alone. She has no idea what actually happened.”

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The insider further detailed that Veronica was “super upset” when she attempted to bring up the bedroom scandal at the next dinner party, where she turned to Rhi in front of everyone and said: “I don’t appreciate my husband lying to me about sharing a bed with another woman.”

The source added: “She’s super upset, but the entire room laughs it off and shuts her down. The only people they lied to really was production. The only reason Eliot lied was because he didn’t want to throw Rhi under the bus,” and it goes on to become one of the “most intense” confrontations of the season.

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ANDY CARROLL and his girlfriend Lou Teasdale shared a loved-up kiss as they relaxed in a swimming pool.

The former England striker is soaking up the sun in the south of France, where he plays for Bordeaux.

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He and Lou chilled out on an inflatable and shared a kiss – days after confirming they are set to get married.

The Sun exclusively revealed Carroll is planning to propose to his girlfriend of five months, telling friends: “My divorce can’t come soon enough”.

The ex-Liverpool striker, 36, split from his estranged wife Billi Mucklow, 37, last year – weeks before revealing his new relationship.

He’s set to marry celebrity make-up artist Lou Teasdale, 42, after starting a new life together in France following his transfer to fourth-tier club Bordeaux.

A friend of the loved-up couple said: “Andy is very close to proposing to Lou. They are madly in love.

“She is spending as much time as she can with him in France and Andy has never been happier.

“Lou is exactly what he needs because she is a calming influence on him and it’s noticeable the change she’s had on him to everyone around them.”

Carroll has referred to Lou as his “wifey” as he reinforced his desire to take their relationship to the next level.

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He spoke candidly about his “different world” with celebrity stylist Lou shortly after the pair jetted off on their first holiday together as a couple.

Carroll, who has two more children from a previous relationship, was once the most expensive British player of all time when he joined Liverpool from Newcastle in 2011 for £35million.

In 1805, New York made a deal. State officials granted taxpayer funds and a corporate charter to a private organization known as the Free School Society, which agreed in return to provide a free education to poor children in New York City. Over the next decades, the society became a precursor to modern-day charter school networks that are prominent across California and the nation.

Other 19th century school organizations took notice, including religious ones. From 1825 until 1841, New York officials received similar requests for funding from Baptist, Jewish, Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian and Quaker schools. All were denied.

What happened next is remarkable. Not only did none of the religious schools win a lawsuit arguing that the denial of funding violated their constitutional right to free exercise of religion, but none even brought suit. And similar episodes unfolded around the country, in states such as California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois.

To many people, this two-centuries-old snapshot may seem quaint or even irrelevant. But to the Supreme Court of the United States, it is everything. It’s everything because the current court has deemed history and tradition to be central to the interpretation of our constitutional rights. And in a case to be argued on April 30, this history could determine the outcome of a major dispute that will determine whether billions of taxpayer dollars will be poured into schools that teach their preferred religious doctrines.

The case is Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board vs. Drummond, and it presents the question whether the Free Exercise Clause of the 1st Amendment compels states with secular charter schools — which is nearly all states — to provide funds to religious charter schools as well. A ruling for religious schools would disrupt the public education system as we know it from California to New York — to say nothing of historic norms of church-state separation.

Given the court’s pro-religion majority, some have already portrayed the case as a likely moment of conservative triumph. Maybe so. But the case will also be an originalist moment of truth. That is because the most eye-opening aspect of the religious charter schools’ legal argument is its utter incompatibility with the originalist approach to constitutional interpretation that the court’s conservatives have applied in a slew of recent cases.

The most prominent of these history-focused rulings, of course, is Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe vs. Wade. In the Dobbs case, a five-justice majority held that history did not support a right to abortion because when states prohibited abortion in the antebellum period, “no one … argued that the laws they enacted violated a fundamental right.” (One of us has argued elsewhere that Dobbs misrepresents the history of abortion, but that is water under the bridge.)

If the logic from Dobbs is sound, then the same argument ought to doom the religious charter schools’ position in Drummond. As we show in a forthcoming paper, episodes like the one involving New York’s Free School Society were ubiquitous: States in the antebellum period routinely denied funding requests from religious charter schools, and no one — not even the religious schools themselves — argued that these denials violated a state or federal right to free exercise as originally understood.

The absence of any litigation asserting a free exercise right to religious school funding is especially jarring given that religious communities at the time were busy bringing (and winning) other free exercise lawsuits, such as a prominent 1813 case recognizing a right for a Catholic priest to refuse to testify about a confessional. The only conclusion that makes historical sense is that founding-era religious leaders believed that they possessed a robust right to free exercise — but even they understood that it did not extend to the kind of funding claim now advanced in Drummond.

Supporters of religious charter schools may point out, rightly, that there was anti-Catholic animus in the 19th century. But here, too, Dobbs has already rejected their argument: The ruling deemed the taint of misogyny and anti-Catholic bigotry that motivated antebellum abortion bans to be irrelevant because some lawmakers had other motives for banning abortion. Likewise in the religious school funding context. When New York lawmakers denied funds to a Baptist school in 1825, many were motivated by the genuine desire to support the emergent Free School Society.

In the end, we cannot predict whether the court’s conservative justices will be faithful to history and tradition in this case. Ultimately, perhaps those justices will care more about advancing a conservative movement goal than the neutral application of interpretive theory.

What we do know is this: If the court ignores a clear historical record merely because it is inconvenient for a political cause favored by its conservative members, it will move one fateful step closer to losing its public legitimacy. And it will do so at exactly the wrong time — a crucial moment when the court’s legitimacy and independence is more important than ever before.

Aaron Tang (@AaronTangLaw) is a law professor at the UC Davis School of Law and former clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Ethan Hutt (@ehutt1) is a professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.