crowd

Aug. 14 (UPI) — The man charged with purposely driving into a crowd celebrating a soccer win in May was charged Thursday with 24 new counts, a pair of which involve babies.

Former Royal Marine Paul Doyle has been charged with dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm with intent after 134 people were hurt when a car slammed into people celebrating a Liverpool Premier League title football win.

Among the new counts, two of the victims have been revealed to be babies, with five of the people allegedly struck by Doyle aged between six months and 17 years old.

Originally charged with seven counts relating to six people, the 24 added charges were applied before the hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, raising the total against Doyle to 31.

Once in court, Judge Andrew Menary KC postponed the plea hearing to Sept. 4 due to Doyle’s legal team not receiving an opportunity to review crucial evidence that was to be presented to the court. The eventual trial is expected to last around a month to resolve.

Lisa Berns, the niece of retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, passed by a newsstand in Los Angeles over the weekend and found herself reacting with dread and alarm to the news that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had just been assassinated.

The Orange County woman’s reaction surfaced again Wednesday, when her uncle announced he would not be running for President, a decision that, in Berns’ words, “hasn’t ruined my day. . . . It takes a lot of the pressure off of us. It takes the worry away.”

“People in public office just put themselves at risk every day, so I’m not unhappy that he decided not to run,” she said.

Lisa Berns’ mother, Marilyn Berns, whose only sibling is Powell, said she had never discussed the dangers of running for office with her brother, “But I know that it concerned us–my husband and our family. I think Colin’s decision was made prior” to Saturday’s tragedy in Israel.

“I wasn’t surprised [by Wednesday’s announcement] because Colin called me [Tuesday] night and told me what his decision was,” said Marilyn Berns, 64, a teacher at Martin Elementary School in Santa Ana until her retirement in June. “I’m pleased about the decision. It’s important to us that he do the thing he feels most comfortable with. . . . We were all getting very edgy about it.”

Berns said that her brother’s consideration of seeking the presidency had left his family subject to prolonged stress.

“There was this monumental decision that had to be made,” Marilyn Berns said. “Both of them [Powell and his wife, Alma], along with their kids, were just meeting and meeting and thinking it over. I didn’t realize until I spoke to him the gravity of what my brother was dealing with. That was very disturbing to me. I got a little teary over that.”

Elsewhere in Orange County, the response was less personal and more political as Democratic and Republican leaders found a common ground: Albeit for their own reasons, both parties agreed that Powell had done the right thing–the only thing he could do, really–in not seeking the White House.

But private citizens throughout the county reacted glumly, saying that Powell’s decision deprived American voters of a candidate whom many felt was potentially the best President of anyone in public life.

Others expressed relief, however, saying the timing just didn’t feel right.

Numerous political pundits said Wednesday that Powell’s wife had been “adamant” about having him decline, language with which both Berns women took issue.

Marilyn Berns said that her sister-in-law “has a lot of input” into her husband’s choices and that “they do things together as a team”–to a point.

Even if Alma Powell had strongly resisted her husband’s running, “she’s not the type of woman who is so forceful that she would ram her views down someone’s throat. That’s not Alma Powell’s style. She gives her input, and that’s it. She doesn’t beat a dead horse.”

“I haven’t talked to my aunt [Alma, Powell’s wife]. I don’t know that she’s adamant about him not running,” said Lisa Berns, a computer saleswoman in Orange County, “but I don’t think she’s got a burning desire for him to run.

“I don’t know what she feels precisely about Rabin’s assassination. I don’t know that it played a big part in their decision, but I will tell you this: I was in L.A. over the weekend visiting friends. I hadn’t been watching the news, or reading the newspaper.

“But at 5 o’clock when I walked by a newsstand and saw that Rabin had been assassinated, my heart sank. I don’t know if anybody else in the family had it cross their minds, but it certainly crossed mine.”

The Berns family is so concerned about its own privacy that both mother and daughter asked not to have published the name of the Orange County community where the family lives.

Despite her uncle’s decision, “I think he would have been great” as President, Lisa Berns said. “I think he would be good at anything he sets out to do. He’s obviously very bright, very well spoken, level-headed, cool. . . . He knows how to work under tremendous pressure in various capacities. He’s a fair person, an eminently decent person.”

On other fronts, Democrats and Republicans across the county were not about to try to persuade Powell to change his mind.

“If he had run, it would have made the Republican [presidential] race even uglier than it is already,” by pitting the moderate Powell against GOP conservatives, said Irvine attorney Jim Toledano, chairman of the Democratic Party in Orange County.

“The announcement comes as no surprise to me,” countered Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the Republican Party in Orange County. “I never met a party activist who was favorable to [Powell’s] nomination during all the time the press was touting it.”

It was always the media and never the GOP constituency who wanted Powell to run, Fuentes said, claiming the negative feeling was far more prevalent in the ultraconservative, Republican stronghold of Orange County.

“If there were ever a media-contrived candidacy, this was the best example,” Fuentes said. “To carry our banner requires some time of service to the party and also the full embrace of the values and ideals of the party–and that was lacking.”

Fuentes suggested that party regulars felt the would-be candidate had not yet paid his dues, noting that Powell’s most trusted advisers “obviously shared with him the reality that there was no Powell ground network. There has to be some structure, some network, some reality to a campaign. That not being in place, I think he just came to grips with reality.”

But some people reacted to Wednesday’s news with disappointment.

At the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, about 150 people watched Powell’s announcement on a big-screen television. Many were both surprised and crestfallen at his decision. “I really thought he had the impetus and the appeal to win,” said 54-year-old Beverly Nocas of Pasadena. “He’s very articulate and I think he could have done a lot for us.”

Norma Canova, a 50-year-old resident of Yorba Linda, said, “I think he could have had a great role in healing racial problems in this country.”

But several onlookers, who had gathered to watch a fashion show called “Dressing the First Lady,” expressed relief.

“I couldn’t vote for him because I don’t know what he stands for,” said 81-year-old Henry Boney of San Diego. “I know that he’s a good salesman though. He created a lot of publicity for his book.”

Newport Beach resident Elaine Parks said she was “very impressed” with Powell, but was heartened by his decision to stay out of the race.

“It would have been divisive to the party, and we need complete unity to beat the current President, which I sincerely hope happens,” Parks said.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Rep. Mike Flood has gotten an earful during a public meeting in Lincoln aimed at discussing his support for the massive tax breaks and spending cuts bill that passed Congress and was signed into law by President Trump.

Flood, a second-term Republican who represents the GOP-leaning district that includes the University of Nebraska, on Monday braved the ire of a college town audience dominated by hundreds of people intent on expressing their displeasure chiefly with cuts to Medicaid benefits and tax reductions tilted toward the wealthy.

He described the law as less than perfect but stood firm on its Medicaid and tax provisions, fueling a 90-minute barrage of jeers and chants in a scenario House Republican leaders have specifically advised GOP members to avoid.

“More than anything I truly believe this bill protects Medicaid for the future,” Flood said, setting off a shower of boos from the audience of roughly 700 in the University of Nebraska’s Kimball Recital Hall. “We protected Medicaid.”

How voters receive the law, passed with no Democratic support in the narrowly GOP-controlled House and Senate, could go a long way to determine whether Republicans keep power in next year’s midterm elections.

Flood was resolute on his position but engaged with the audience at times. During his repeated discussions of Medicaid, he asked if people in the audience thought able-bodied Americans should be required to work. When many shouted their opposition, he replied, “I don’t think a majority of Nebraskans agree with that.”

Dozens formed a line to the microphone to speak to Flood, most asking pointed questions about the law, but many others questioning moves by the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, education spending and layoffs within the federal bureaucracy.

Some came prepared to confront him.

“You said in Seward you were not a fascist,” one man stood in line to say. “Your complicity suggests otherwise.”

Flood shot back, “Fascists don’t hold town halls with open question-and-answer sessions.”

Asked if he would block the release of files related to the sex trafficking case involving the late Jeffrey Epstein, Flood said he supports their release as a co-sponsor of a nonbinding resolution calling for their publication. Flood also said he supports requiring a deposition from Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, who argues she was wrongfully prosecuted.

Flood’s audience was gathering more than an hour before the doors opened. And as people lined up in the warm August air, he sauntered by, introducing himself, shaking hands and thanking people, including retired Lincoln teacher and school administrator Mary Ells, for attending.

“I believe Congressman Flood listened in a socially appropriate way,” Ells said after expressing concerns to Flood about her grandchildren’s future. “I do not believe he listens in a responsive, action-oriented way for citizens in Nebraska that do not agree with the national playbook written elsewhere but being implemented here.”

Inside the hall, much of that decorum vanished.

During Flood’s discussion of his support of the law’s tax provisions, which he argued would benefit the middle class, the audience exploded in a deafening chant of “Tax the rich.”

Other refrains included “Vote him out!” and “Free Palestine!”

Hecklers often drowned out Flood, creating a rolling cacophony with only occasional pauses.

Republican lawmakers’ town halls have been few and far between since the bill passed early last month, in part because their leaders have advised them against it. Trump and others say the law will give the economy a jolt, but Democrats feel they’ve connected with criticism of many of its provisions, especially its cuts to Medicaid and tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy.

Flood later downplayed the confrontation as “spirited” but “part of the process” during an impromptu press conference.

“It doesn’t mean you can make everybody happy,” he said. “But, you know, if you feel strongly about what you’re doing in Congress, stand in the town square, tell them why you voted that way, listen to their questions, treat them with respect and invite them to continue to communicate.”

Unlike dozens of other Republicans in competitive districts, Flood hardly has to worry, as Republicans brace for a challenge to their razor-thin majority in the House next year. Elected in 2022, Flood was reelected to the seat last year by winning 60% of the vote in a district that includes Lincoln in Democratic-leaning Lancaster County but also vast Republican-heavy rural tracts in 11 counties that ring the Omaha metropolitan area.

Beaumont writes for the Associated Press.

It felt like 2022 all over again when Josh Gad took to Instagram to express his heartbreak about contracting a “virus known as COVID” and announce his decision to pull out of playing King Herod in the highly anticipated production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl, which staged its first night of a three-night run Friday.

Gad hinted that maybe — if he tested negative — the situation might change. The following day, however, John Stamos announced on social media that his weekend “just got biblical” and that he was stepping in for Gad in the show.

On Friday, things got extra dramatic when Gad said that he had tested negative. Fans on his social media clamored to know what that might mean, but he stayed mum until Saturday when he posted a photo of himself in an elaborate gold lamé costume with the words, “See you all Sunday night.”

A rep for the Los Angeles Philharmonic said that final confirmation that Gad will step onto stage won’t come until noon Sunday.

Stamos appeared onstage as Herod on Friday night, bringing some comic relief to an electric, deeply emotional show.

After one of star Cynthia Erivo’s solos, the audience clapped so loud, long and reverently, that tears came to the singer’s eyes — which only caused the crowd to cheer harder. The moment of symbiotic love lasted for at least 3 minutes, maybe more.

The Bowl was packed with marquee names, including former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Jim Carrey and Ted Neely (who played Jesus in the 1973 film adaptation of the musical). Erivo brought composer Andrew Lloyd Webber onto the stage as a special guest during curtain call.

Still, Gad fans were many — you could tell because they held Olaf dolls and wore Olaf jewelry — and they could be heard expressing their sorrow at the absence of Gad in the crush of the crowd after the show.

Gad’s addition to the cast, which included Erivo as Jesus, Adam Lambert as Judas and Phillipa Soo as Mary Magdalene, was hailed by fans; and in an interview with The Times during rehearsal, Gad spoke about being beyond excited to perform at the Bowl for the very first time with a stellar cast that he called the Avengers of musical theater.

“I’ve wanted to play the Hollywood Bowl forever,” said Gad. “But I never thought I was good enough to play the Hollywood Bowl,” he added with a self-deprecating smile

Even though the role of King Herod entails a single song — a kind of comic interlude that Gad likened to the part of King George in “Hamilton” — Gad showed up at as many rehearsals as possible before he came down with COVID. He just liked sitting on the sidelines, soaking up the scene and the incredible talent on display, he said.

At a Saturday rehearsal before the show, he filmed numbers on phones for various cast members and cheered his heart out. His sense of excitement was palpable. Now he’ll get one night to give “King Herod’s Song” his all.

Diana Ross returned to the Hollywood Bowl on Friday night for the first of two weekend concerts — her fifth engagement at the hillside amphitheater since 2013 and her second gig in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles in less than a year (following her performance at last August’s old-school Fool in Love festival). In other words, it’s not exactly hard to catch the 81-year-old pop legend onstage these days — which isn’t to say that it’s not worth doing. Here are nine moments that made me glad I showed up Friday:

1. After coming out to — what else? — “I’m Coming Out,” Ross zipped through a frisky Motown medley linking some of the 12 No. 1 hits she and the Supremes scored in the 1960s. Would I have liked to have heard full versions of “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Baby Love” and “Stop! In the Name of Love”? Sure. But hearing these all-timers stacked up in rapid succession was a thrill of its own — a reminder of the blend of efficiency and ingenuity attained on a daily basis at Hitsville, U.S.A.

2. Ross was backed by more than a dozen musicians at the Bowl, including four horn players and four backing vocalists, and they were cooking from the get-go: crisply propulsive in the Motown stuff; tight and gliding in “Upside Down”; lush yet down-home in Ross’ take on Billie Holiday’s “Don’t Explain,” from her 1972 Holiday biopic “Lady Sings the Blues.”

3. Two wardrobe changes meant that we beheld three glittering gowns in all, beginning with the fluffy canary-yellow number she emerged in. About halfway through the show, Ross slipped into a pipe-and-drape dressing room at the rear of the stage then slipped back out wearing bedazzled ruby red; later, she changed into a shimmering gold look. Each dress came accompanied by a matching shawl that Ross would eventually toss to the stage to be retrieved by a waiting assistant who seemed to know precisely when it would happen.

4. Each dress also came with a bulky mic pack that — in an endearingly peculiar costuming choice — Ross opted to wear on her waist instead of hiding it around back.

5. “I have an album out, a current album — the title of the album is called ‘Thank You,’” Ross told the crowd as she began to introduce a tune from her not-bad 2021 LP. Then she turned her head stage-left toward a sound engineer in the wings: “Who’s talking in the mic? I can hear a mic.” She returned to the audience. “Anyway, the title of the album is called ‘Thank You.’ Each song was specially written so that I could say ‘thank you’ to you for all the wonderful years, all the…” Another glance left. “Somebody’s talking in the microphone.” Another turn back. “We’re gonna start with this one — ‘Tomorrow,’ OK? We’ll start that if I can out-talk whoever’s talking over here.”

6. Ross’ daughter Rhonda joined her mom to sing another new-ish tune, “Count on Me” — “She’s been practicing,” Diana said proudly (if somewhat shadily) — then stuck around to do a mini-set of her own self-help-ish soul-folk songs, one of which beseeched us all to “stop gaslighting ourselves.”

7. Half a century after “The Wiz” debuted on Broadway in 1975, Ross sang her two big numbers from the Black retelling of the “The Wizard of Oz,” which she helped cement as a cultural landmark with her role as Dorothy in a fondly remembered movie adaptation. Here, “Home” was wistful yet determined, while “Ease on Down the Road” got even the high-rollers in the Bowl’s box seats moving.

8. During “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand),” Ross led the crowd in a call-and-response recitation of what she called “my mantra”: ”I’m so grateful / For all the blessings in my life / For there are many / All is well / I’m resilient / Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

9. More of Ross’ children appeared onstage at the end of the show to join her for a rowdy “I Will Survive” — and to plug their latest commercial endeavors. “Can I say one thing?” Tracee Ellis Ross asked. “‘Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross’ on Roku streams today, so check out the show.” Diana Ross reclaimed the microphone and gestured toward her son Ross Naess. “This is my son — he’s doing a line of caviar called Arne Reserve.” She looked around. “Chudney, what’s happening with you?”

Ron Washington was beaming in his black suit, complete with a red tie, as he sat at a table perched on a platform in the Home Plate Club of Angel Stadium on Wednesday.

The 71-year old manager from New Orleans, the newest in Angels history, scanned the room, taking in his moment as his new general manager, Perry Minasian, boasted about him. Minasian gave him his official Angels gear and Washington affixed his newest cap to his head and meticulously buttoned each button on his newest jersey.

“Now I’m legit,” Washington said and smiled.

It had been nine years since Washington had been in this position, the manager of a major league baseball team. Now that he was back, he stated his message clearly: The Angels will be a force to be reckoned with while he’s in charge.

“Our whole focus is going to be to run the [American League] West down,” Washington said in front of a crowd of Angels players, alumni, media members and team employees. “And you can take that to the bank and deposit it.”

Washington, hired by Texas Rangers ahead of the 2007 season, has had a chip on his shoulder after not winning a World Series despite AL pennants in 2010 and 2011 and a wild-card berth in 2012.

He left the Rangers before the end of the 2014 season — stating, at the time, that his decision to leave was because he had been unfaithful to his wife. Of the nature of his departure from the Rangers, Minasian said Wednesday that he had done his due diligence and felt comfortable hiring Washington.

Washington had been trying to return to a managerial position since then, interviewing with at least three other clubs over the years, he said, but he never stopped believing his next opportunity would come.

He has a World Series ring, having been an integral part of the 2021 campaign of the Atlanta Braves, the team he had been the third base coach for since the 2017 season.

Angels new manager Ron Washington, left, and general manager Perry Minisian hug during a news conference Wednesday at Angel Stadium.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

And he spoke with more than just determination, but a conviction in the Angels, with his confidence in himself and down-to-the-soul belief in a better Angels future paving the way.

The Angels have not reached the playoffs since 2014 and have eight straight losing seasons. In addition, Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani is a free agent and could leave the team. While some view the roster as weak, Washington sees potential.

“I really have been, since I’ve been here these past three days, focusing in on these young arms we got,” Washington said. “I am very impressed with the young arms we got. That’s why we trying to find us a pitching coach to guide them in the right direction.

“Pitching and defense is the key to success. The rest of it, I’m going to take care of as we move along. … The defense, you’re looking at the best in the business, and that’s not patting myself on the back. That’s a fact.”

The Houston Astros have won the AL West six of the last seven seasons. The Rangers won this season’s World Series.

While some view beating the top teams in the division as a tall order, Washington says so what.

“Yeah, the Astros [have] been there,” Washington said matter-of-factly. “When I took over in Texas, guess who was the big dog? The Angels. And what happened? We ran them down. So my intent is to run Houston down.

“I’m not saying that’s gonna happen this year. But we don’t know when it’s gonna happen. I can tell you what, we’re gonna get back on top.”

Washington’s official candidacy for the Angels job began with a dinner with Minasian in New Orleans a few weeks ago — though Washington’s familiarity with the Minasian family dates back much further. After that, Washington was invited to meet with Minasian and other members of the front office in Scottsdale, Ariz., for a brunch on the Tuesday of the general manager meetings last week.

Team owner Arte Moreno picked Washington up from the airport and Minasian and the rest of the Angels contingent talked with him for more than three hours, Minasian said, and he was offered the job. The next day, the Angels announced Washington as their new manager.

Washington’s Angels have already secured their new third base coach, Eric Young Sr., who followed Washington from Atlanta, as well as their new infield coach, Ryan Goins. Washington also said Wednesday that he knows who his first base coach is, though he did not give a name. The Angels confirmed Bo Porter as their new first base coach on Friday. The Angels also confirmed on Friday that they promoted Jerry Narron to major league catching coach after previously serving as their minor league catching coordinator. The Angels subsequently named Johnny Washington as their hitting coach and Barry Enright as pitching coach.

Next up on Washington’s agenda: making calls to the team’s biggest leaders for the foreseeable future: Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon.

Washington and Dave Roberts of the Dodgers are the only Black managers in the majors, after Dusty Baker retired from his position with the Astros last month. Washington replaces Phil Nevin, whose contract for next season was not picked up by the Angels.

Thirty people have been injured after a vehicle drove into a crowd queuing to get into a nightclub in Los Angeles.

Seven were critically injured and six were in a serious condition after the crash in East Hollywood, the LA Fire Department (LAFD) said.

A line of mostly women were waiting to enter the Vermont Hollywood music venue when the car struck at 02:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Saturday.

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the crash as an intentional act because the driver made a U-turn before ramming through the crowd, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said that when officers arrived, bystanders had dragged the driver out of the Nissan Versa and were attacking him. One assailant had shot the driver.

The driver was taken to hospital for surgery, the LAPD added. His condition is unknown.

The vehicle drove through a taco stand, through a valet podium, and then into the crowd, said police.

Pictures from the scene show a grey car on a pavement with debris strewn on the ground, and a large police presence.

The nightclub was hosting a reggae/hip hop event at the time, according to its website.

A law enforcement official told CNN the driver is believed to have been intoxicated.

Police have described the suspect who opened fire during the melee before fleeing on foot as a bald Hispanic man. He was wearing a blue jersey and potentially armed with a silver-coloured revolver.

In a statement, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the incident a “heartbreaking tragedy”.

“The hearts of Angelenos are with all of the victims impacted this morning – a full investigation into what happened is under way,” she said.

The victims have all been taken to hospitals or trauma centres, LAFD Captain Adam VanGerpen told reporters at the scene.

“It was a very chaotic scene,” Capt VanGerpen said, adding that “a lot of bystanders by the club came out to help people”.

July 19 (UPI) — A driver plowed through a crowd in East Hollywood in California early Saturday, injuring 30 people, authorities said.

The driver had been thrown out of a club before getting in his car and crashing into the crowd, police told KABC-TV and KTLA-TV.

The driver, who may have lost consciousness behind the wheel, was pulled out of the car, beaten by bystanders and shot in the melee, said police, who are seeking a suspect in the shooting.

The crash was reported just before 2 a.m. along Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantc told the City News Service.

At least seven people were critically injured and six were serious condition, police said.

The crowd, outside The Vermont music venue, included clubgoers, valets and food vendors at a nearby taco stand, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

“They were all standing in line going into a nightclub,” LAFD Capt. Adam Van Gerpen said. “There was a taco truck out there so they were getting some food, waiting to go in. And there also is a valet line there. The valet podium was taken out, the taco truck was taken out and then a large number of people were impacted by the vehicle.”

A law enforcement source told KLTLA that the driver was removed from the nightclub for being disruptive, attempted to re-enter the club and was then turned away again. The man got into his hatchback, drove off, made a U-turn and then drove onto the sidewalk.

Of those injured, 23 people were taken to a hospital and 12 were treated at the scene, according to the fire department.

Police said they are investigating the cause and motive of the crash.

The Los Angeles Fire Department in California, United States has said a vehicle has been driven into a crowd of people in East Hollywood, injuring more than 20.

Up to five people are in critical condition, a further eight to 10 are said to be in serious condition, and another 10-15 are in fair condition, the department reported Saturday.

There are reports that the driver of the vehicle lost consciousness, drove into a taco cart and subsequently ran into a large number of people outside the club.

The incident occurred at about 2:00am (09:00 GMT) on Santa Monica Boulevard.

LAFD Alert- #EastHollywood Traffic with Multiple Patients 4661 W Santa Monica Bl MAP: https://t.co/714PH0XwN5 FS35; DETAILS: https://t.co/jwSEQFLOnw

— LAFD 🔥 (@LAFD) July 19, 2025

More to come…

The 2025 MLB All-Star Game had plenty of big moments, as the National League let a six-run lead slip away in the late innings but emerged victorious after a home run “swing-off” determined the outcome of the 95th annual event for the first time.

One of the biggest moments from the game, however, actually occurred 51 years, three months and one week earlier. That’s when the legendary Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth‘s longstanding MLB record with his 715th home run — a milestone event that was re-created in dramatic fashion after the sixth inning Tuesday night (July 15, a.k.a, 7/15) at Truist Park in Atlanta.

The actual milestone event took place about 10 miles from there on April 8, 1974, when Aaron and the Atlanta Braves hosted the Dodgers at the since-demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. A crowd of 53,775 was on hand, with millions more watching on national TV, when Aaron launched a fourth-inning pitch by Al Downing over the left-center-field wall to make baseball history.

This week, a crowd of 41,176 — again with millions more watching on TV or streaming — witnessed the moment come back to life through video and audio clips (yep, that’s legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully you hear, along with Braves announcer Milo Hamilton), pyrotechnics and lots of modern technology.

It was really a sight to behold as Aaron and the others somehow appeared on the field as the events unfolded just like they did more than a half-century ago. A firework was launched from home plate and scorched through the air marking the trajectory of Aaron’s landmark blast. Lighted footprints traced the Hall of Famer’s every step around the basepath.

The tribute included part of Scully’s call from that day. “What a marvelous moment for baseball,” he said, “what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a marvelous moment for the country and the world.”

(Although it wasn’t included in the tribute, Scully went on to explain one of the reasons the moment was so significant: “A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron.”)

Hank Aaron’s historic 715th home run.

Aaron died in 2021 at age 86, but his wife Billye Aaron was on hand for the festivities.

“I think people can look at me and say, ‘He was a great baseball player, but he was even a greater human being,’” Aaron said in a clip that played at the end of the tribute.

ATLANTA — There were no tears.

There were no tears when he addressed the crowd in a Fox interview that was played over the Truist Park sound system.

There were no tears when manager Dave Roberts removed him from the game in the top of third inning so the fans could salute him once final time.

Freddie Freeman didn’t cry Tuesday at the All-Star Game.

“I didn’t know how it was going to go,” Freeman said.

This was the kind of setting that could have very easily turned the emotional Freeman into a sobbing mess, and he admitted as much the previous day. He was returning to the market in which he spent the first 12 years of a career to play in the kind of event that is often a source of reflection.

The absence of tears represented how much can change in four years, especially four years as prosperous as the four years Freeman has played for the Dodgers.

“Time,” Freeman said, “heals everything.”

For both sides.

The same fans who watched him transform from a 20-year-old prospect to a future Hall of Famer warmly cheered for him during pregame introductions — just not with the kind of back-of-the-throat screams they once did.

The same fans who used to chant his name chanted his name again — just not as long as they used to, and definitely not as long as the fans at Dodger Stadium now chant his name.

Freeman will never be just another visiting player here. He won an MVP award here. He won a World Series here.

Braves fans appreciate what he did for them. They respect him. But they have moved on to some degree, just as Freeman has.

“You spend 12 years with Atlanta, you pour your heart into it,” Freeman said. “Now I poured my heart into four years with the Dodgers and still got many more hopefully to go.”

Gaining such a perspective required time.

Freeman acknowledged he was wounded by the decision the Braves made after they won the World Series in 2021. They didn’t offer him the six-year contract he wanted and traded for Matt Olson to replace him as their first baseman. Freeman signed a six-year deal with the Dodgers.

“To be honest, I was blindsided,” Freeman said at the time. “I think every emotion came across. I was hurt.”

He carried that hurt with him into his return to Atlanta, which came a couple of months into his first season with the Dodgers. He spent much of the weekend in tears.

Now looking back, Freeman said, “It does feel like a lifetime ago.”

So much so that Freeman said it was “a little weird” to be back this week in the home team’s clubhouse at Truist Park.

“I was sitting with [Braves manager Brian Snitker] in the office and seeing him and talking to him, seeing all the home clubhouse guys and then it kind of just comes all flying back that, like, well, it has been four years,” Freeman said.

Freeman has since returned to Southern California, where he was born and raised. He’s been embraced by an entirely new fan base that supported his family when his now-five-year-old son was temporarily paralyzed last year because of a rare disease. His postseason heroics — particularly his walk-off grand slam in the Game 1 of the World Series last year — has made him one of the most beloved players on a stacked roster.

“Now, everything’s in the past,” he said. “I get to play in front of my family every single day and we won a championship, so everything’s OK.”

His experience in Los Angeles has liberated him from the negative feelings associated with his breakup with the Braves, allowing him to focus on his positive memories with the organization.

Because of that, Freeman was grateful he was offered a chance to speak directly to the fans before the game.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” he told them.

He was also thankful of how Roberts replaced him with Pete Alonso at first base while the American League was batting. The crowd gave Freeman a standing ovation. Freeman saluted the crowd in return.

“I really appreciate the moments,” Freeman said.

Freeman grounded out in his only at-bat, which was preceded by respectful applause and a brief chant of his name. Another NL first baseman elicited louder cheers when he stepped into the batter’s box, however. That player was Olson, his successor in Atlanta. Freeman wasn’t the only one who had moved on.

Blackpink is back in the area.

The K-pop girl group, made up of Rosé, Lisa, Jennie and Jisoo, triumphantly kicked off the North American leg of the Deadline world tour Saturday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. After taking a two-year break to focus on solo projects, the group reunited for its first U.S. concert since the Born Pink tour concluded in 2023.

Despite dropping only one group number since then — hardstyle, Diplo-produced “Jump,” released Friday — Blackpink sold out two nights at one of the Los Angeles area’s biggest venues.

“This is incredible. It is such an honor to perform at the SoFi Stadium for you guys,” Rosé said. “We are really really excited to be here.”

Sarah Hoang has been a Blackpink fan since 2019, following their Coachella debut that same year. To celebrate her first time seeing the girl group, the San Diego resident passed out commemorative tickets to other fans.

“I’ve been waiting for them for a long time,” Hoang said. “I was really excited to be finally seeing them in L.A., especially at the first tour of the U.S. leg.”

The stadium was awash in pink as fans went all-out for their idols. While many dressed according to the band’s namesake, others took inspiration from the girls’ solo projects. Concertgoer Evelyn Rios, who lives in Los Angeles, nailed Jennie’s look from the “Ruby” album cover in her all-black outfit and cherry-red wig. A fan since 2020, she attended the 2023 show at Dodger Stadium and noted she was most excited to hear “like Jennie.”

The show consisted of five acts and an encore, alternating between group and solo sections. Blackpink started off strong, firing through “Kill This Love,” “Pink Venom” and “How You Like That.”

The Saturday night set list was identical to the one in Goyang, South Korea, last weekend, save for Lisa’s solo section. While the maknae — or youngest member of the group — performed “New Woman” and “Rockstar” for the tour’s opening dates, she opted for the edgier “Thunder” and “Fxck Up the World” Saturday night.

Lisa’s two-piece Louis Vuitton set evoked Wonder Woman as she conquered the stage, lightning crackling behind her. Channeling the same spellbinding energy from her Coachella set earlier this year, where she also performed tracks from “Alter Ego,” Lisa proved why she’s among K-pop’s most magnetic performers.

All four solo projects are sonically distinct, and seeing them back-to-back highlighted just how artistically diverse the Blackpink members are. Jennie, who also performed solo at Coachella this year, leaned into her hip-hop influences as she delivered a mashup of “Mantra,” “with the IE (way up)” and “like Jennie.” Meanwhile, Jisoo pleased with the effervescent, electronic pop of “earthquake” and “Your Love.”

Rosé prompted laughs from the audience as footage of her filming a TikTok and eating French fries backstage played leading up to her solo section. When she finally appeared in front of the audience, she took a more intimate approach, sitting at the edge of the stage with guitarist Johnny “Natural” Najera.

Starting with heartbreak anthems “3am” and “toxic till the end,” Rosé concluded with the upbeat, global chart-topping single “Apt.,” during which she brought a fan on stage. Released with Bruno Mars in October, the song still sits comfortably on the Billboard Hot 100.

Blackpink debuted “Jump” before its official release last weekend in South Korea, so Los Angeles fans were prepared for the long-awaited comeback single. They jumped and danced all the way through the addictive track when Blackpink performed it not once, but twice.

“I must say the song is really addictive the more and more I hear it,” Rosé said after the first run. “I personally think it’s the most exciting one to perform during our set.

With a mix of old and new hits, Saturday night brought together both longtime fans and K-pop newcomers.

Sydney Grube and Thet Aung drove up together from San Diego just for the concert. While Aung has been a fan since the group began, Grube started listening after seeing Lisa in HBO’s “White Lotus” in February.

“I started listening to all the solo acts, and then started listening actually to the Blackpink music,” Grube said, adding that she was most excited to see the individual sections.

The concert also united fans of all ages, with plenty of families arriving in coordinating outfits. At one point, Blackpink even shouted out all the “baby blinks” in the audience — many of whom were not even born when the group debuted in 2016.

“I did want them to dance more, but they did really good,” said 9-year-old Tara Castro, who was wearing a Blackpink hat and glasses. “They’re my favorite K-pop.”

With tour dates charted through January, fans are expecting new music — perhaps even a full album — sometime soon. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of Blackpink in our area.

There’s a reason Nate Jackson’s debut Netflix special arrives during barbecue season. Perched on a stool under the spotlight at his shows, the comedian spends most of the evening delivering hospital-worthy third-degree burns to crowd members who want the smoke. If you lock eyes with him in the first five rows, chances are you even paid extra to be his next victim by sitting in “the roast zone.”

During a recent pair of packed, back-to-back gigs at the Wiltern last month, the Tacoma-bred comic made full use of his flame-throwing abilities to torch his highest-paying L.A. fans over their questionable fashion choices, weird haircuts and bad teeth. As the evening progresses he dives deeper, extracting more information and grilling them about their personal lives and romantic relationships with a camera zoomed in on them, broadcasting their faces on a jumbo screen if they were at a Dodger game. When everything works right, Jackson finds a way to weave the stories of his random burn victims together in a way that makes the whole show feel pre-planned. Meanwhile, even as Jackson is busy making fans the butt of his comedic freestyle, the person laughing the hardest is usually the roastee. It’s the mark of good crowd work that’s not simply well done but more importantly done well.

This ride of the unpredictable twists and turns is given the same spotlight and attention in his special as his pre-written jokes in a way that keeps the pace engaging while making his audience the stars of the show. It makes his debut “Nate Jackson: Super Funny” a testament to the style and the brand of comedy he’s grown from a weekly comedy night to a brick-and-mortar comedy club and now a Netflix special that bears the same name.

Speaking of names … no, he didn’t interview himself for this story. But a journalist and the comedian swapping professions for a day or two could be funny. Whaddaya think, Nate?

Recently Nate Jackson spoke to Nate Jackson about his career coming up in the Tacoma comedy scene, refining his ability to improv on shows like MTV’s “Wild ‘N Out” and using his crowd work skills to go viral on TikTok.

This conversation was edited for length and clarity.

Well, well … Nate Jackson.

Nate Jackson.

I heard about you, man.

When I Google me … we come up. What is the likelihood of that?

It’s been my whole career — searching “our name.”

Then there’s a random guy [another Nate Jackson] playing a guitar and then all of the sudden, a third-string Denver Bronco [also named Nate Jackson] wants to write a book about playing football while high, and then he takes over the front three pages of our name.

No worries, us doing this interview together will definitely help us both surge in Google rankings.

So you’re Nate Jackson. I’m Nate Jackson Jr., and my dad is [also named] Nate Jackson. So this is a lot of Nate Jackson.

Some Nate-ception going on!

[Laughs] Bars!

Congrats on your latest special, “Nate Jackson: Super Funny.”

What’d you think?

I thought that it was a great balance of what everyone’s seeing on you on their phones [via TikTok] recently, and it also shows people what you spent your entire career doing in comedy before social media. You’re able to convey the level of crowd work you do in a live setting really well. I know a lot of people say, “Oh, crowd work is so easy to do,” but is it actually really hard?

Oh no, it’s easy to do. It’s hard to do right.

“Organic [humor] wins almost every single time when you’re writing material. One of the main challenges is making it so that it’s consumable by the masses,” Jackson said. “You want to write about things that people can relate to.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

How did it start for you with the crowd work becoming a central part of your act?

It never was a thing I wanted to go to as a central part of my act. I fought against that concept. If you work on a joke for three months, you want that to work more than the thing you just walked out [on stage] and said, “Look at that light flickering.” But you can’t control what is going to hit harder. Organic [humor] wins almost every single time when you’re writing material. One of the main challenges is making it so that it’s consumable by the masses. You want to write about things that people can relate to. You want to be relatable, right? Well, what’s more relatable than, “It’s hot in here, and we can all feel it.”

How did you get started in the Tacoma comedy scene?

I started because I had a room in Tacoma, Washington. I had a lot of rooms in Washington, and I consolidated them into a Thursday night, and it was the “Super Funny Comedy Show,” which is now the “Super Funny Comedy Club.” But it was every Thursday, and I was young enough in my career that I was like, I need to produce a show that would pack this place out, and I don’t have the skill set to be the [driving force] yet. But I can host; I can add a live band. I need my headliners coming from somewhere else. So that’s why we had [big names like] Lil Rel, Tiffany Haddish, Leslie Jones, Deon Cole. So Tacoma was spoiled by the lineups that came and did [my] Thursday night.

In doing that, every week I could write, but I could not keep up with the pacing of having a monologue every Thursday. [I was] a new comic without my voice. So I abandoned that. Sometimes I would make a joke and then say, “Now I’m just gonna mess with who’s in front of me.” And that [crowd work] muscle started to pulsate. Then I added a little improv to it. Then it I said, “All right, this next [set] I’m gonna go up with [no material]. I’m gonna go up naked and I’m coming off with a ‘W.’” It got to where people are like, “Yo, I kind of like it when you just freestyle.”

So doing improv on stage led to you freestyle roasting people?

It didn’t necessarily need to be a roast. I could be [a joke on] something I saw on the news that day. They just want to see me create — to just pick up the newspaper and then go off that. I’m like, “Guys, that’s a slap in the face to when I’m putting three, four hours in at Starbucks, working on the writing and making sure the punch lines are all there.” But it’s the same thing I’m doing with the crowd work content. I don’t just mess with people for the sake of messing with them. I am getting information to then plug into a setup. Now we’re in a comedy structure where it’s act out and mix up a set up, a punch line, etc. I want to make it worth slowing down the pacing that I would have if I was the only one talking and dictating the energy.

When I go to somebody, it is now at their pacing. They can take four minutes on the answer, and people are now fidgeting in the crowd. I’m like, “Come on now, hey, come on.” You got to keep it moving; that’s the rule to what’s happening onstage. It can go slow, but we need to feel like we’re going from point A in a story or an interaction to point B. Sometimes maybe I’m going from point A to point C, and I hit you with some misdirection in there, then, wham to point C and all connects. People are like, “Wait, so the last 10 minutes was a setup?!” That’s what I pride myself on. So you, how do just say, “Oh, that’s crowd work” — is it?

“I think that what I’m doing it is the evolution of stand-up,” Jackson said. “You [can’t] go on stage and just do your set the same way — the way you practice it in your mirror — in front of a blinding light, where you can’t even see [the crowd].”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

It’s definitely more than what people ascribe to it as a part of a show. It turns the fans into the show in a way that they can walk away feeling good about — even if they’ve been roasted.

And that’s on me, because I could just be malicious and leave it bad. But I always, I try to uplift. I’m a “Que,” a member of Omega Psi Phi [fraternity]. It’s one of our principles, “to uplift.” I don’t want you to leave the show being like, “Man, I’ll never watch a show again.” No, it should be like, “Okay, [he roasted me], but we had fun.” I’m not trying to beat up on people.

I wanted to talk about the role TikTok played in your recent glow-up in comedy over the last few years. How did it help you develop as a comedian?

I just started showing [my skills]. Once you start showing it, you’re not a secret anymore. Comics would come to Tacoma — which is off the beaten path — and then be like, “There’s a guy up there that even as a host you need to have, you need to be ready to follow, because he’s just — he’s literally just up there winging it, and he’s on fire.” Everyone in comedy knows the guy or the girl, and that was kind of what the stigma became. I was one of comedy’s best-kept secrets. People would come up [to my comedy shows], they would see my razzle-dazzle, they would take little bits of my recipe and add it to their stuff. And so I would watch people years later and be like, “Really … really?!” Don’t come up here and take my sauce and then, because you got more shine than me, use it. It takes a lot to just be the person that can handle that and not develop a chip on the shoulder. But if I’m the creator, if I’m their origin and I’m the source of [my style of comedy], then I have no issue continuing to create.

People were just like, “You need to get online!” I was like, “I am! I have every app and I’m tired now. How many things I gotta manage?” And it just got to the point where I was like, “Alright, let me get on. Let me do TikTok. That’s the app where people are following.” I saw friends that were having wild success on there, and I was like, alright, I’ll try it. And sure enough, within six or seven clips — the seventh [clip] hit. It wasn’t mega viral or anything, but it did more than my average video was doing over on on Instagram. I said, there’s something to this. And I stayed on it. And then things kept it [growing]. And so I was watching, and the needle was moving. And so here we are.

How often would you post clips on TikTok when you started using it?

I was posting at least once a day. That is not easy, because you got to get your sound right, your video needs to be quality, and then you got to pull it, edit it, and caption the words that are on the screen. There’s AI now, but all of us who were doing this [before AI] would laugh about it and be like,“When do you caption?” We’ll watch a movie and literally just be captioning. For a five-minute video, a four-minute video, I’m talking about exhaustion … Now, you plug that thing in [with AI] and the whole thing is done. Thank God, or thank computer. I don’t know who [I] was supposed to thank in that scenario, but it streamlined the process so much more content can come out now. What took me all night long to get one clip out — now we do three a day. Or two a day now, at the very least.

We talk about how AI can be a threat to original entertainment, including comedy. But are there ways AI and social media have changed the art form for the better?

Yes, and we can do so much more. We can now edit a whole podcast in two minutes. You would think it’s getting rid of jobs, and in theory it should be, but it should make one person be able to do so much more. Instead of someone losing the job, we have the capacity to put out way more content. So let’s keep all of our employees, but let’s now do 180% times more work. Also as far as AI goes, I’m okay if we stop right now for two years. Let’s just stop right now … before we legitimately are in a plot of “Terminator.”

With the type of show you’re doing now, where do you see the future of comedy going?

“Live your life to the fullest. Love hard, play hard,” Jackson said. “We only got one shot at this. I left it all out on the stage. That’s exactly how we should live every day.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

I think that what I’m doing it is the evolution of stand-up. You [can’t] go on stage and just do your set the same way — the way you practice it in your mirror — in front of a blinding light, where you can’t even see [the crowd]. What’s the difference between being in front of seven people or 70,000 people? It feels exactly the same. I think there’s a detachment between the person and the people. We’ve seen the guys that are such glitzy superstars — that just being there to watch it, that’s the presence you want to be in. But with human interaction, every show is different. You have to be malleable and loose. You can’t do your set, 1-2-3-4-5 — you gotta be able to go 5-3-2-1-4, with different segues on the fly.

What’s a better mechanic, the one that does the same 14 diagnostic steps no matter what car comes in, or the one that opens the hood and listens and goes, “[Your car needs a] timing belt, gimme a timing belt”? Let’s say you have five jokes — your hot five. Three [jokes] are about your cat, one’s about your mom and one is about a motorcycle. And you walk out on stage and there’s a motorcycle club in the front four rows. Do you get off of your normal order and establish rapport with the audience by moving your motorcycle joke to the front, or do you set yourself up for failure by talking about your new cat for three jokes to a motorcycle gang? They’ll listen to you if they like you. So get what will establish that first — be malleable.

A lot of new fans of yours may not know, but you’ve had experience with improv years ago in the “Wild ‘N Out” days [on MTV during Season 8, circa 2016]. What’s it like taking those skills you learned on TV and moving it to your own specials, podcasts and social media in this new era?

It’s all “yes, and …” We take the current situation and go, “What else can we add?” We’re just building … the real talent, the expertise comes in when they build, and it’s also a pivot, like the segue you just did right now to get into this topic. So kudos to “Wild ‘N Out” to being able to procure and find all of us and put us together. But all of us obviously had something, otherwise how do you catch the eye of a network showrunner? Shout out to Nile Evans and everybody that’s a part of procuring the talent that ends up being the stars of tomorrow. We can be like, “Oh, it’s a little urban hip-hop show.” Or we can be real about the fact that Katt Williams and Kevin Hart and all these people have come down the halls of that show. I would argue “Wild ‘N Out’s” alumni that have hit are as decorated or more than “In Living Color.”

This special feels like just a big culmination of your career right now. What’s something you would want people to take away from it after watching?

Live your life to the fullest. Love hard, play hard. We only got one shot at this. I left it all out on the stage. That’s exactly how we should live every day. Bert Kreischer said [my new special] made him miss doing stand-up … that is so powerful. The best comics make you go, “Why didn’t I think of that?” or, “God, I gotta write!” He didn’t watch it and go, “You know who you remind me of?” I think that’s not flattering. He watched and said, “I gotta get down on my stuff.” I don’t know if it’s like, “Oh, this kid’s coming,” or if it’s just a, “I respect what you do, I appreciate it, and it made me want to get back on my stuff.” I feel like it’s more the latter, but there’s going to be some of that “OK, this kid’s coming.” There’s going to be nothing you can do because I’m coming, whether you like this special or not.

In a coffee city like Los Angeles, it’s no surprise that many coffee shops, teahouses and cafes take creativity to the next level. The sweet syrups and aesthetic latte art that marked our entry into customizable coffee culture were only the beginning — springboards for today’s caffeine scene where different flavors of fluffy cream tops and unique toppings, from sugar rims to cob-shaped corn ice cream, draw crowds to shops across the city.

Here, dramatic drinks take inspiration from a wealth of cultures and cuisines, from East Asian cafes and bubble tea shops where add-ons are the star to third-wave coffee shops highlighting flavors from around the world.

“We wanted something on the menu that was kind of a destination drink,” said Max Rand, the owner of Good Friend, a coffee shop that opened in East Hollywood last year. “That’s become a really popular thing in L.A. especially: something that people will go out of their way for, will drive across town for. It has to be interesting enough for someone to go out of their way to try it.”

Extravagant drinks aren’t always a hit — too many add-ons and the delicately bitter flavor of matcha disappears. Adding whipped cream and other flourishes can muddle the tasting notes that coffee roasters work so hard to highlight. Finding the sweet spot is difficult.

Achieving that balance — high-quality ingredients and processes complemented by unique flavors and presentation — is what makes a baroque beverage a winner. From coffee infused with yuzu to milky mango topped with matcha mousse, these are our favorite over-the-top drinks that taste just as good as they look.

The Candace Curse struck early.

On a day the Sparks retired the jersey of the superstar whose departure has coincided with their five-year funk, Candace Parker nearly missed her pregame news conference.

With a room full of media types eager to write that rare positive Sparks story, Parker got caught in convention traffic and was so late that the game was starting and she took just five minutes’ worth of questions.

The Candace Curse struck late.

In the fourth quarter against the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena, in front of a crowd waving yellow Candace Parker T-shirts, the Sparks did something they’ve been doing in bunches since Parker skipped town after the 2020 season.

They lost.

A dreary Sky team missing star Kamilla Cardoso still managed to beat a Sparks team filled with Parker inspiration, winning 92-85 with a fourth-quarter rally and turning what should have been the best day of the year into the worst loss of the season.

“It’s tough,” said the Sparks’ Emma Cannon.

Tough to play, tougher to watch, this being the Sparks’ 12th loss in 17 games as they spiral toward their familiar spot in the bottom of the WNBA standings.

This was once a special franchise, as the classy halftime jersey retirement ceremony for Parker reminded everyone, with Lisa Leslie introducing and Parker embracing and the standing crowd a little teary.

This is now a blight of a franchise, as the surrounding 40 minutes of basketball reminded everyone, the Sparks playing hard but sorely lacking in talent, direction and any sort of playoff future.

In the final five of Parker’s 13 seasons here, the team went 108-50 and reached the Finals twice while winning their third championship.

In the five years since then, they are 55-110 and haven’t reached the playoffs.

If that’s not a curse, it’s a mighty powerful coincidence.

History shows that it could have been, and should have been, so much different.

Parker, a two-time MVP and seven-time All-Star, should have played her entire career here. She never should have left as a free agent. Like Leslie, she should have been a Spark forever.

“No idea how they let her get away,” said Leslie to The Times’ Anthony De Leon.

The jersey of former Sparks player Candace Parker is displayed during her jersey retirement ceremony.

(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)

She left because of problems with then-coach Derek Fisher, because of the Penny Toler postgame-tirade controversy, because the organization had already begun its downward spiral.

If the Mark Walter-led ownership group had been paying attention, she would have stayed a Spark. If the owners put the same effort they put into running the Dodgers, the issues would have been handled and Parker would have been prioritized. She was not, and then she was gone.

“The culture was toxic…I was part of that culture and had been absorbed in that toxicity,” Parker wrote in her book, “The Can-do Mindset.”

She also left because she wanted to play near her Chicago-area hometown, and she later bolted there for Las Vegas, and won titles in both places when she should have been winning them here. Here’s guessing she would have rather won them here, as Sunday she acknowledged Los Angeles had become her home.

“L.A. isn’t just about ball,” she told the crowd during the halftime ceremony. “For me anymore, it’s now where we call home and we will forever call home. So thank you so much, I love you all, I’m so appreciative, and I can’t believe it. Thank you all. Thank you.”

One can’t blame her if she no longer recognizes her former team. The Sparks no longer have a superstar, a deep bench, a championship hope in hell.

Full disclosure: I am a Sparks honk. I’m such a fan that my daughter MC and I have partial season tickets.

Also full disclosure: When picking our seats for this season, we had a choice to sit behind either bench, so we took the ones behind the visiting bench. The visitors always have more stars, the visitors are always more fun.

Certainly, these Sparks have some shining moments. Kelsey Plum works as hard as any star in any local sport, Azurá Stevens is one of the league’s underrated forces and Dearica Hamby is solid.

But a series of lousy draft picks and a lack of an attractive infrastructure — that imaginary permanent practice facility is being built any day now! — have kept them from acquiring the sort of superstars that carry teams in crunch time, the kind of difference-makers this town deserves.

“I feel like we’re right there,” Plum told me before Sunday’s game. “We’re young, we lack depth and cohesion, those things take time, I have faith that throughout the season we’ll continue to build.”

Plum has been an outstanding addition since coming here last winter in a trade, she works harder in pregame warmups than some players during the entire game, but what she’s saying, we’ve heard before.

Candace Parker was a two-time MVP, rookie of the year and led the Sparks to the 2016 title in her 13 seasons with the team.

(Associated Press)

The latest spin is that the Sparks’ No. 2 overall draft pick Cameron Brink will make a big difference when she returns from knee surgery later this summer. But she didn’t make a huge difference early last season when she played. Their other top draft pick from last season, Rickea Jackson, scored six points Sunday and has basically been a bust.

Barring the signing of a major free agent — who wants to play on a team with no permanent home? — there’s not much help coming next year because they’ve traded their first-round pick.

So their motto should be…Waiting for JuJu?

It’s all so depressing, especially on a day that should have been so uplifting.

Before the game, new coach Lynne Roberts — her honeymoon is already over — called this a “must-win.”

Since the Candace Curse, that has meant, “About to lose.”

He was replaced by Mexican reserve Luis Carrera for the remainder of the round, with their combined score counting towards their team Smash GC’s score.

LIV said Koepka can return for the second and third rounds but his score would contribute only to his team’s.

Players compete individually and for teams at LIV events.

They tee off at the same time on different holes, known as a shotgun start.

Koepka, who has won five times on the LIV tour, missed the cut at the Masters in April and the US PGA Championship in May, and finished tied for 12th at this month’s US Open.

Speaking about his form after the first round of the US Open, he said: “I would say from the first weekend in April until about last week, you didn’t want to be around me.

“It drove me nuts. It ate at me. I haven’t been happy. It’s been very irritating.”

The former world number one won the most recent of his majors in 2023 at the US PGA.

The 1975 took to the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm as the first headline act at Glastonbury 2025 earlier tonight, with Matty Healy and his bandmates back at the festival

The crowd for the 1975‘s headline set at Glastonbury has been described as “surprisingly sparse” by one festivalgoer this evening. The rock band, which is fronted by singer Matty Healy, were on the main stage at the music festival.

The 1975, consisting of Matty, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald and George Daniel, took to the Pyramid Stage for their set. The band are the first headline act of the weekend, with Neil Young and Olivia Rodrigo headlining at Worthy Farm in Somerset on Saturday and Sunday night respectively.

A source at the festival told the Mirror that the crowd was “surprisingly sparse” for the 1975’s headline set though. They said that the audiences were bigger for Lewis Capaldi and CMAT, who performed on the stage earlier in the day. Some people were heard saying the band wasn’t their vibe before moving away from the stage.

Matty, 36, and his bandmates opened their set tonight with their song Happiness. The the Brit Award winning band’s setlist for Glastonbury later included singles like Chocolate, as well as other tracks such as Love Me and Paris.

The staging for the set included occasional strobe lighting and various graphics on screen behind the band. A car was also visible on stage at one point, with lead singer Matty opening the song Somebody Else whilst sat inside it.

Viewers on BBC iPlayer had faced issues at times when the 1975 performed at Worthy Farm tonight. Despite the suggestion that the crowd was “sparse,” many fans were seen in the audience and cheers were heard during the set.

Fans shared their thoughts on the band during their set. One person wrote on X: “The 1975 are brilliant. I’m a fan.” Sharing their support, another viewer commented: “Matty Healy and the 1975, definitely do it for me, never disappoints.”

One fan wrote: “The 1975 at #Glastonbury has to go down as one of the greatest sets of all time. No debate.” Another said: “The 1975 set list tonight has been INSANE, if you are at #Glastonbury tonight i hope you’re appreciating this.”

Someone wrote: “The 1975 your smashing it as always. Great band live. Wish I was at Glastonbury.” Whilst another fan reacted after the performance: “The 1975 were incredible, amazing set, loved it alot!”

Not everyone was impressed with the set though. One person instead reacted: “The 1975 must be one of the most boring bands to headline Glasto in a long time.” Someone else said: “Seriously what’s all this hype about the 1975?”

Sharing their thoughts on the platform, another viewer commented during the headline set: “Absolute garbage from the 1975.” Whilst one person said: “I just don’t get The 1975.”

Another wrote: “That lead fella from the 1975 is insufferable isn’t he? Some bangers mind.” One person wrote: “I haven’t tweeted in over a year. However, I had to get this off my chest. The 1975 are shite and Matty Healy is insufferable. He’s trying his hardest to look like he’s a genuine rock star. They were never Glastonbury headliners and they’ve just proved us all right.”

Prior to the 1975’s performance this evening, a source told the Mirror that the band “pulled out all the stops” for their set. The source said: “Everyone was so blown away that Matty, Ross, George and Adam were headlining, but it’s no surprise given how loved they are universally.”

The source added: “They’ve played Glastonbury before, but this is the boys at their very best and then some. They’re one of the biggest bands in the world, and their tours sell out almost instantly, but to see them on the Pyramid Stage in the headline slot, nobody could have expected this.”

It was teased that fans could “expect a few surprises” during their set at Glastonbury this year. The source had told us: “Everyone behind the scenes has worked so hard to pull out all the stops – fans should expect a few surprises.”

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