Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog

Horoscopes Nov. 15, 2025: Shailene Woodley, engage in events that allow you to share ideas

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Shailene Woodley, 34; Jonny Lee Miller, 53; Beverly D’Angelo, 74; Sam Waterston, 85.

Happy Birthday: Your imagination and creativity are on the rise. Let your passions take over and lead you in directions that soothe the soul and excite the mind. Engage in events that allow you to share ideas and offer a platform to promote and market your skills, experiences and attributes. Doors will open, and success awaits you, so let go of the past and embrace the future with enthusiasm. It’s your turn to shine. Your numbers are 1, 16, 23, 28, 32, 36, 40.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): A change of plans or direction will encourage you to speak up and participate in events that allow you to contribute and make a difference. The people you connect with will be instrumental in helping you move toward a path that offers greater opportunity to use your skills in a manner you enjoy. 3 stars

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your heart and your head won’t be on the same page. You’ll tend to overreact and let stubbornness win when it comes to meaningful relationships. Try to channel your energy into self-improvement, learning new skills and taking better care of yourself and your surroundings. Update essential documents that are time-sensitive and ready for processing. 3 stars

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You’re in the zone and ready to act. Listen carefully and address issues with charm, and you’ll attract positive feedback that allows you to shine and win favors from those in a position to support what’s important to you. Social events will encourage meeting someone who interests you for love, friendship or a collaboration of sorts. 5 stars

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Be open to suggestions and trying something new and exciting. Your participation will open doors to new faces and pastimes that are uplifting and give you something to look forward to. It’s time to expand your circle of friends and to embrace new beginnings. Don’t be shy; socializing, love and romance are in the stars. 2 stars

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Learn as you go. Talks will dispel any misinformation you encounter, and participation will keep you informed and able to make spontaneous decisions. A lifestyle change will clear the way to better health, fitness and friendships. Be open and honest regarding your feelings and intentions, and you’ll resolve any unanswered questions. 4 stars

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Talks will lead to unexpected change and a chance to formulate your next move. Refuse to let anger or ego stand in your way when an opportunity is apparent. Don’t miss out because you can’t let go of the past. Embrace new beginnings with a positive attitude, and seize the moment and the adventure that awaits you. 3 stars

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Put more thought into how you can utilize your skills, talents and experience to fortify your future. A passionate discussion with someone who knows and understands you will offer support and direction, encouraging you to move forward. Laboring over something you cannot control is wasteful; put your energy where progress is possible. 3 stars

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Look for opportunities, and take advantage of what you discover. Ask questions, and apply information directly to what interests you. Stick to the path that makes you feel most driven, and refuse to deviate from it. Only comply with what affects you and aligns with what you are trying to achieve. Patience, focus and discipline will help you achieve your goal. 3 stars

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Domestic issues will require thought and change. Let your heart choose and your head dictate the most suitable way to move forward. A financial opportunity or a chance to revise your lifestyle to ensure better health and emotional well-being are within reach. Move forward, do what’s best for you and don’t look back. 4 stars

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Put your emotional energy into learning, discovery and figuring out what’s best for you. Sign up to learn something new, add to your skills or restructure how you approach something you love to do into a moneymaking proposition. Consider how to present who you are, what you can do and how you can benefit others. 2 stars

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Structure a game plan that encourages you to expand your interests and marketability. Refuse to let insecurity set in or someone’s criticism stand in your way. It’s time to prop yourself up and to make the adjustments that boost your energy and confidence. You’ve got plenty to offer. Channel your energy into what you enjoy doing most. 5 stars

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Anger, laziness and negativity are the enemies. Push past emotional letdowns, and propel yourself forward with a creative spirit and willful mindset. Engage in social events, and carry yourself with poise and a positive attitude. You’ll attract attention, support and new relationships that make you feel good about yourself and your future. Romance is favored. 3 stars

Birthday Baby: You are intense, resourceful and artistic. You are charming and mindful.

Star Ratings Key:

1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes.2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others.3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals.4 stars: Aim high; start new projects.5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.

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CCS Division III playoffs: Carmel falls to Sacred Heart Prep in shootout

MONTEREY — With the exception of it being in the opposite end zone, the situation was eerily similar to last season in the playoffs for Carmel High, when it needed a stop on a two-point conversion on the very same field to keep its season alive.

And the Padres defense rose to the occasion, stopping Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton. Well, at least initially. A flag was thrown for defensive pass interference, moving the ball up a yard.

This time, the Gators converted with 1:21 left, then turned to their defense for a turnover to catapult them to a wild 49-48 win over Carmel Friday in the Central Coast Section Division III quarterfinals at Monterey Peninsula College.

“There was a flag,” Carmel coach Golden Anderson said. “We didn’t see it from our vantage point. We thought it was clean. On the second attempt, the guy made a diving catch to get the two.”

Last year the Padres Simeon Brown (Idaho State) made a stop a yard short of the goal line with no time left on the clock in a 42-41 win over Acalanes to send them to the State Championships, in what ended up being a record-setting 15-0 season.

“The call isn’t the reason the game ended the way it did,” Anderson said. “We did things well and made some mistakes as coaches. It wasn’t the reason we lost. We take ownership for our mistakes.”

Bumped to the Gabilan Division this season after back-to-back Mission Division South titles, including a state championship last season, the Padres ran 15 new starters out on the field this past season in finishing 6-5.

“We had some rough games early,” Anderson said. “Our kids didn’t shy away from it. We had guys trying to earn spots. A lot of kids were starting for the first time. We would not have battled back like this earlier in the year.”

Coming out of the Peninsula Bay Division, which includes the likes of Los Gatos, defending CCS Division II champion Wilcox and Menlo-Atherton, the Gators are 5-1 outside division play.

The defending CCS Division IV champion Gators came into the game having dropped four of five league games, having scored just 41 points in their four losses.

“We knew the game would be close,” Anderson said. “That’s a defending section champion with a rich history. Surprisingly, it was a high-scoring game.”

One that appeared to favor the Padres, who never punted, scoring on seven of their 10 possessions, stopping only themselves with a pair of turnovers, including on their final drive.

“The kids went through a lot last week with uniformed people making uniformed statements about our kids,” said Anderson, who would not elaborate any further. “I’m proud of how they handled it and how they performed tonight.”

Giving up a pair of touchdowns on one-play drives in the first quarter put the Padres in a 21-7 hole before defensive adjustments slowed Sacred Heart Prep’s momentum.

What transpired was a career game for Matt Maxon, who rushed for five touchdowns and caught a touchdown for Carmel, with his touchdown catch late in the second quarter tying the game at 27.

“Matt represents everything about Carmel High,” Anderson said. “He plays multiple sports. It doesn’t matter what’s on the line. He goes and plays hard. He is a great example for the younger kids.”

Maxon, who signed his letter-of-intent on Thursday to pitch in 2027 for Stanford, also had an interception on defense, which led his 1-yard touchdown run out of the ‘Wildcat’, staking Carmel to a 34-27 lead.

The Gators countered every punch Carmel and Maxon threw at them, tying the game three times in the second half, including with 1:21 left in the game.

As dynamic as the Padres offense was throughout the game, 81 seconds on the clock seemed like more than enough time to move the ball downfield. Yet, a turnover on the first play enabled Sacred Heart Prep to run out the clock.

Maxon rushed for two touchdowns in the first quarter and caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Kaleb Herro late in the first half. He added three more rushing touchdowns in the second half, giving him 17 on the ground this season.

“We understand, based on the last two years, some folks felt we belong in the Gabilan,” Anderson said. “But we only had 13 seniors on the roster. What won’t show up in a stat is how much this group really improved.”

Game of the Week: Dukes, defense, lead Palma past Soquel in CCS playoffs

SALNAS — A unified front following the game — that its best football has yet to be played, was echoed from players and coaches as undefeated Palma gathered together.

Perhaps.

Yet, for the first time all season, the Chieftains defense pitched a shutout, while the offense turned to a familiar face in Eli Dukes in a 28-0 win Friday over Soquel in the Central Coast Section Open/Division I playoffs at Rabobank.

“I’m hoping we still have better football in front of us,” Palma coach Jeff Carnazzo said. “We’re excited to be in the position we’re in. The competition ramps up next week.”

Seeded No. 4, the Gabilan Division champions Chieftains will put their 11-game winning streak on the line, traveling to No. 3 seed Los Gatos — who knocked off St. Francis 14-7  — next Friday in the semifinals.

Champions of the Peninsula Bay Division, the Wildcats are 8-3 overall on the season, having gone undefeated in league play. One of their losses in the preseason was a 42-40 decision to Soquel in their season opener.

“Simply because we have game film of them when they played Soquel, we have seen them,” Carnazzo said. “It’s your typical Los Gatos team. They are a WCAL-type school. Very physical and disciplined.”

The two teams haven’t met since the 2007 Open Division playoffs, when the Wildcats turned a reverse play with 1:20 remaining into a 56-yard touchdown pass in a 20-14 win over Palma.

“David Fales (drafted by the Chicago Bears) was our quarterback,” Carnazzo said. “We lost the game on a reverse pass in the last minute.”

Attention was already on Los Gatos the minute the bus returned to campus after Friday’s win, in which the Chieftains beat Soquel for the second time in three weeks.

Having ended the Knights run of 17 straight Gabilan Division wins with a 28-21 victory on Halloween, Palma turned to its defense to record its first shutout of the season.

“The score wasn’t indicative of the game,” insisted Carnazzo. “We understand that Soquel was lacking their quarterback and other pieces. But we were missing pieces as well. No one is at full strength at this point.”

Carnazzo was talking about Soquel playing the game with quarterback Sam Whelan, who suffered a season-ending lower leg injury in the first quarter against Palma in the regular season meeting.

The Knights, however, marched down field on their opening drive, moving the ball to the 12-yard line before Cooper Dukes broke up a pass attempt on fourth down to halt the drive.

Momentum turned in a heartbeat as the Chieftains offensive line went to work in creating holes for Eli Dukes, who chalked up 248 yards on 27 carries, accounting for all four of the team’s touchdowns.

“I’ve been saying all year I sleep better at night because our offensive and defensive lines will keep us in any game,” Carnazzo said. “Our quarterback had two key contributions on fourth down to keep drives alive.”

Calling himself a conservative coach, Carnazzo put the ball into the hands of quarterback Patrick Driscoll twice on fourth down, with the junior rushing for a first down and completing a pass to Chase Amaral to extend a drive.

“I’m old school,” Carnazzo said. “Normally, that’s not me. But we had the ball on our side. Those are momentum swings when you convert them. It allowed us to chip away at the clock a little more.”

Carnazzo has been known to take risks in the past, such as in his first season when he went for two in the final 43 seconds of a 15-14 win over Oak Grove in the CCS Division I title game in 2000.

The feeling Friday was if Palma didn’t convert, the defense was dominating the game behind linebacker Wyatt Deverick, stopping the Knights on fourth down four times.

“We stopped them on two occasions on fourth down and took over at midfield,” said Carnazzo, who guided Palma to its first 10-0 regular season since 1997.

Driscoll did just enough through the air to keep Soquel from putting 10 in the box, as Eli Dukes went over 200 yards on the ground for the fifth straight game, adding touchdown runs of 15, 5, 24 and 7 yards for Palma.

“He was a beast,” said Carnazzo, who took the Chieftains to a State Division III title in 2023. “We hand him the ball and great things happen. There’s nothing else to say about this kid.”

Dukes, who has offers on the table from Oregon State, Cal and Stanford, has rushed for 2,293 yards and 31 touchdowns on 196 carries, averaging nearly 12 yards each time he touches the ball.

“I told him tonight I didn’t know if I was more proud of his effort in AP history or the 248 yards,” Carnazzo said. “The kid is taking five AP classes.”

Dukes spent most of the night running behind tackle Kaden Colon and guard Luke Mahler, who dominated play up front for Palma, who finished 352 yards in total offense.

“We did turn the ball over twice,” Carnazzo said. “We had some penalties that we need to eliminate. Those are the things we can improve upon — have to improve upon moving forward.”

Warriors’ Steph Curry explains why he is ready to split with Under Armour

SAN ANTONIO — Steph Curry shook up the basketball shoe world on Thursday, and after shaking and baking the Spurs to the tune of 49 points on Friday night, he spent almost as much time answering questions about his attire as he did talking about his record-tying performance.

Curry separated from Under Armour, announcing the planned end of a 13-year partnership and signifying that the ‘Curry Brand’ would become its own independent entity in 2026.

I’m a free agent, new beginnings. Blessed to have an unbelievable experience, to take a chance on something that meant a lot to me over the last 13 years,” Curry said. “I’m extremely proud of myself, my team, and everybody who was able to touch that business for that long. We should all be proud of taking a basketball brand or brand category that wasn’t really a thing before, to where we did. but I’m excited about the future.”

Though he declined to get into specifics, the star guard hinted at why the split was necessary.

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“It was just in the best interest of both parties,” Curry said. “You know, the sneaker industry is difficult, and like I said, things change over time. You give your best effort to create something sustainable, and it’s a little disappointing, knowing how it turned out based on where Curry Brand has been the last five years, and the announcement we had two years ago. I think its the right thing for everybody, and for me to be able to take the opportunity with Curry Brand, and what we’ve done in the community, what we’ve done from Standing for something, changing the game for good, and hopefully having something to show for it down the road, I’m excited about that.”

He made waves on social media during the pregame warmups, when Curry donned a pair of the Nike Mambacita Kobe 6’s. But for the game itself, a 109-108 victory, he wore his usual Under Armour Curry’s.

“The idea of what he meant,” Curry replied when asked why he wore that specific shoe. “I talk about Kobe a lot, and that specific pair, I think it speaks for itself for what it means.”

Was wearing Nikes a sign of things to come for Curry? Not quite.

The good thing about this situation is that I love my own shoes … that’s why I put my name on them, and why I designed the kicks I have (worn) for as long as I have,” Curry said. “I’m going to have some fun for this … being open to any opportunity that is the right fit, we’ll try everything.

Warriors instant analysis: Steph Curry ties Michael Jordan’s record in win over Spurs

SAN ANTONIO –- A historic Steph Curry performance was just enough to lift the Warriors past San Antonio 109-108 at the Frost Bank Center on Friday. 

Curry warmed up in Nike shoes – Kobe’s, to be exact – but changed back to Under Armour Curry’s once the game began, and then slipped into another UA blue pair once the game started. Regardless of what shoe Curry wore, he had Spurs defenders slipping and sliding in San Antonio.

The Warriors superstar scored 31 points in the second half and 49 overall for the game, tying him with the great Michael Jordan for the most 40-point games (44) after turning 30. It was Curry’s second consecutive 40-ball: he put in 46 in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs on Wednesday. 

Was Curry aware of it? You bet he was, as shown by him throwing up a “two-three” with his hands after burying his 40th point.

Sort of.

“I was very aware, but I did (the two-three) backwards, though,” Curry said with a laugh. “It’s pretty cool from an individual accomplishment perspective. Just to beable to get that type of company, and that longevity is something I pride myself on.”

Curry’s herculean effort helped the Warriors offset another great showing by the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, whose 26-point, 12-rebound and three blocks weren’t quite enough for San Antonio to prevent a two-game Golden State sweep in three days.

Wembanyama’s third-quarter show of force — and drawing a foul on a rebound — led to Warriors coach Steve Kerr being given a technical. 

According to Curry and other Warriors, seeing their coach T-ed up gave them a jolt of energy. Kerr had already been in uncharacteristically passionate form earlier in the day, when he shared a 90’s-era story from his coach Phil Jackson. Those Bulls, led by Jordan, were like a band, where each member played his role in the production.

On Friday night, there was no doubt who the front man was.

The Warriors and Spurs traded baskets in the game’s final two minutes, but the deciding plays came with 30 seconds left. Curry got a steal, threw a beautiful behind the back pass to Jimmy Butler, and then saw Butler get blocked by Wembanyama as the Spurs still led by one.

But with six seconds remaining, Curry drew the foul on a drive and engaged in his trademark theatrics.

A basketball player encouraging a crowd to make noise during an important moment has occurred since James Naismith nailed two peach baskets 10 feet above the ground.

But asking a vitriolic group of nearly 20,000 San Antonio Spurs supporters to crank up the volume before shooting a potential game-winning free throw with 6.4 seconds remaining?

A unique type of lunacy …. Unless you are Steph Curry. He calmly made the two made free throws look routine.

“The free throws at the end of the game, you have to find something to take the nerves out,” Curry said. “For me, that’s just embracing the moment, smiling, having a good time.”

Then Gary Payton II, who has filled in admirably during Jonathan Kuminga’s absence,

The Warriors needed every Curry point Friday, especially early. The non-Curry, Butler and Will Richard players were a combined 3 of 25 in the first half. Kerr did not sub out Curry in the third quarter like usual, instead allowing him to play until the fourth quarter began.

It ended up being the right call.

Golden State (8-6), winners of two in a row, will travel to New Orleans and face former Warrior Kevon Looney on Sunday in the fourth game of their six-game road trip.

Guarding Wembanyama

After having success – or as much as one team can have against a 7-foot-5 unicorn who can still put up 31 points and 15 rebounds on a slow night – against Wembanyama, the Warriors repeated their tried and true defensive formula. 

Draymond Green, a foot shorter but built like a brick, was the primary defender. Other helpside defenders – Gary Payton, Brandin Podziemski, etc. – swarmed once he began his dribble. 

It gave the Frenchman fits on Wednesday, goading him into eight turnovers as he dribbled into traffic. 

Though Wembanyama kept the turnovers down, the Spurs did not as the Warriors swarmed all over the dark grey court. San Antonio had 14 turnovers in the first half alone that led to 17 Warriors points. That did not remain the status quo in the second half, though.

Wembanyama scored 10 in the third quarter, a stretch that included a spectacular self-alley-oop off the glass. The Spurs made a concerted effort to give him the ball in the paint, something he did only once in the first half.

He brought the arena to near-pandemonium after slamming an alley-oop on a baseline out of bounds play midway through the third quarter. Wembanyama and Green jawed back and forth at one another, and Warriors security had to race in from the other side of the court to help de-escalate the situation. Green was subbed out shortly thereafter.

But Green returned later in the game, and despite playing with five fouls, remained a thorn in Wembanyama’s side throughout.

Richard, Payton rock

Kerr promised drastic changes to the starting lineup and delivered by bringing Moses Moody and rookie Richard into the first five to join Curry, Green and Butler. 

The new starting lineup might not be a passing fad if the two games in San Antonio are any indication. Moody has been arguably the team’s second-best shooter and has given the starting unit a much-needed shooting component, while Richard has wowed with his energy. 

He reversed home a sweet layup around Wembanyama in the first quarter, and then nailed a triple over his outstretched hands in the second. 

Richard finished the game with 10 points. Meanwhile, for the second consecutive game, Payton II played big minutes because of Jonathan Kuminga’s knee inury-related absence. 

He was the one who contested De’Aaron Fox’s last-second shot.

“Draymond sniffed it out early, and we pre-switched between me and Moses, and it was up to me and Moses to handle the guard-to-guard action,” Payton II said. “We were just trying to make it tough for De’Aaron.”

Podziemski’s role

The Warriors closed the second quarter with the Moody-Curry-Podziemski-Butler-Green lineup that helped the team end last season 23-8. They were outscored 12-10, but the ball moved and the Spurs made a few tough looks. 

Podziemski, who Kerr lauds for doing “all the little things” as a “connector” was exactly that. He scored 10, and also grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists while setting the kinds of screens the coaches loved and defending Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox. 

“These last two games, he’s been brilliant,” Kerr said. “He’s just a little bit like Draymond, in what he does doesn’t always end up reflected in the box score.”

Warriors Steve Kerr, Steph Curry remember slain Oakland football ‘legend’ John Beam

SAN ANTONIO – Wearing a white shirt emblazoned with “John Beam” and a black heart on the front, Warriors coach Steve Kerr began his pregame news conference in San Antonio on Friday night by sharing his thoughts on the late football coach and Oakland icon.

Beam coached in the East Bay for 40 years, first at Skyline High School and then at Laney College, before retiring from coaching in 2024 and becoming Laney’s athletic director. He was shot at the college’s athletic fieldhouse on Thursday, and was pronounced dead on Friday morning.

“It’s a really difficult time for people in Oakland right now,” Kerr said. “Coach Beam was a legend … a sad day, sad day for the Bay Area, and a sad day for coach Beam’s family.”

The longtime coach was beloved by members from every corner of the Oakland community, and later became a nationally-recognized figure for his role in Netflix’s “Last Chance U” documentary that featured Beam’s Eagles.

Kerr then made a heartfelt plea to address gun violence in the city that the Warriors played in until 2019.  

“Everybody knows he’s a revered figure in Oakland, who did so much for so many people,” Kerr said. “On behalf of the Warriors, I want to extend our condolences, and remind everybody we have to be the change, as a community, as citizens, we have to be the ones who insist that we address gun violence issues.”

Kerr said that he did not “know him personally,” but that the two had many mutual friends. 

After defeating the Spurs, Steph Curry also began his press conference by addressing Beam’s death.

“Being from the Bay, and understanding that an icon was lost in John Beam, we’re sending our thoughts and prayers to his family, Laney College community and all of Oakland,” Curry said. “Senseless violence is tough, and it gives us perspective about what we get to do every day. I know he was a legend and touched a lot of lives.”

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Kuminga status

Jonathan Kuminga will not play against San Antonio as he battles knee soreness that kept him out of the second half of Wednesday’s victory. 

Kuminga is averaging 13.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while starting 12 times before coming off the bench in the last game. 

“Hopefully over the next couple of days as he visits with our training staff every day, they’ll get him on track soon,” Kerr said. “But just day to day (for now).”

Curry’s new kicks

The day after Under Armour announced that the shoe brand would be splitting with Steph Curry – his Curry Brand will become an independent entity – the superstar’s footwear was a highly anticipated part of the pregame routine.

He took to the court in a pair of black and white Nikes. Curry left Nike in 2013 to sign with Under Armour. 

Judge indefinitely bars Trump from fining University of California over alleged discrimination

By SUDHIN THANAWALA

The Trump administration cannot fine the University of California or summarily cut the school system’s federal funding over claims it allows antisemitism or other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled late Friday in a sharply worded decision.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction barring the administration from cancelling funding to UC based on alleged discrimination without giving notice to affected faculty and conducting a hearing, among other requirements.

The administration over the summer demanded the University of California, Los Angeles pay $1.2 billion to restore frozen research funding and ensure eligibility for future funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus. UCLA was the first public university to be targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations.

It has also frozen or paused federal funding over similar claims against private colleges, including Columbia University.

In her ruling, Lin said labor unions and other groups representing UC faculty, students and employees had provided “overwhelming evidence” that the Trump administration was “engaged in a concerted campaign to purge ‘woke,’ ‘left,’ and ‘socialist’ viewpoints from our country’s leading universities.”

“Agency officials, as well as the President and Vice President, have repeatedly and publicly announced a playbook of initiating civil rights investigations of preeminent universities to justify cutting off federal funding, with the goal of bringing universities to their knees and forcing them to change their ideological tune,” Lin wrote.

She added, “It is undisputed that this precise playbook is now being executed at the University of California.”

At UC, which is facing a series of civil rights probes, she found the administration had engaged in “coercive and retaliatory conduct in violation of the First Amendment and Tenth Amendment.”

Messages sent to the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice after hours Friday were not immediately returned. Lin’s order will remain in effect indefinitely.

University of California President James B. Milliken has said the size of the UCLA fine would devastate the UC system, whose campuses are viewed as some of the top public colleges in the nation.

UC is in settlement talks with the administration and is not a party to the lawsuit before Lin, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat. In a statement, the university system said it “remains committed to protecting the mission, governance, and academic freedom of the University.”

The administration has demanded UCLA comply with its views on gender identity and establish a process to make sure foreign students are not admitted if they are likely to engage in anti-American, anti-Western or antisemitic “disruptions or harassment,” among other requirements outlined in a settlement proposal made public in October.

The administration has previously struck deals with Brown University for $50 million and Columbia University for $221 million.

Lin cited declarations by UC faculty and staff that the administration’s moves were prompting them to stop teaching or researching topics they were “afraid were too ‘left’ or ‘woke.’”

Her injunction also blocks the administration from “conditioning the grant or continuance of federal funding on the UC’s agreement to any measures that would violate the rights of Plaintiffs’ members under the First Amendment.”

She cited efforts to force the UCs to screen international students based on “’anti-Western” or “‘anti-American’” views, restrict research and teaching, or adopt specific definitions of “male” and “female” as examples of such measures.

President Donald Trump has decried elite colleges as overrun by liberalism and antisemitism.

His administration has launched investigations of dozens of universities, claiming they have failed to end the use of racial preferences in violation of civil rights law. The Republican administration says diversity, equity and inclusion efforts discriminate against white and Asian American students.

Trump administration appeals judge’s ruling barring troop deployment in Portland

By CLAIRE RUSH

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday appealed a ruling from a federal judge in Oregon that barred it from deploying the National Guard to Portland.

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The ruling last week from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law. The city and state filed the lawsuit in September to block the deployment.

In a 106-page opinion, Immergut found that even though the president is entitled to “great deference” in his decision on whether to call up the Guard, he did not have a legal basis for doing so because he did not establish that there was a rebellion or danger of rebellion, or that he was unable to enforce the law with regular forces.

The administration criticized the decision and said the troops were needed to protect federal personnel and property in a city that Trump has described as “war ravaged.”

“The district court’s ruling made it clear that this administration must be accountable to the truth and to the rule of law,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in an emailed statement Friday in response to the administration’s appeal. “We will keep defending Oregon values and standing up for our state’s authority to make decisions grounded in evidence and common sense.”

Immergut issued two temporary restraining orders in early October that had blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. The first order blocked Trump from deploying 200 members of the Oregon National Guard; the second, issued a day later, blocked him from deploying members of any state’s National Guard to Oregon, after he tried to evade the first order by sending California troops instead.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already ordered that troops not be deployed pending further action by the appeals court.

Democratic cities targeted by Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which filed a separate lawsuit on the issue that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court — have been pushing back. They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty.

USDA data casts doubt on China’s soybean purchase promises touted by Trump

By JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — New data the Agriculture Department released Friday created serious doubts about whether China will really buy millions of bushels of American soybeans like the Trump administration touted last month after a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

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The USDA report released after the government reopened showed only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit in South Korea that totaled 332,000 metric tons. That’s well short of the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to purchase by January and nowhere near the 25 million metric tons she said they would buy in each of the next three years.

American farmers were hopeful that their biggest customer would resume buying their crops. But CoBank’s Tanner Ehmke, who is its lead economist for grains and oilseed, said there isn’t much incentive for China to buy from America right now because they have plenty of soybeans on hand that they have bought from Brazil and other South American countries this year, and the remaining tariffs ensure that U.S. soybeans remain more expensive than Brazilian beans.

“We are still not even close to what has been advertised from the U.S. in terms of what the agreement would have been,” Ehmke said.

Beijing has yet to confirm any detailed soybean purchase agreement but only that the two sides have reached “consensus” on expanding trade in farm products. Ehmke said that even if China did promise to buy American soybeans it may have only agreed to buy them if the price was attractive.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the lack of Chinese purchases and whether farmers can still expect a significant aid package like Trump promised earlier.

The Chinese tariff on American beans remains high at about 24%, despite a 10-percentage-point reduction following the summit.

Soybean prices fell sharply by 23 cents to $11.24 per bushel Friday. Ehmke said “that’s the market being shocked by the lack of Chinese demand that was confirmed in USDA data today.” Prices are still higher than they were before the agreement when they were selling for $10.60 per bushel, but the price may continue to drop unless there are significant new purchases.

Before the trade agreement, Trump had said farmers would receive an aid package to help them survive the trade war with China. That was put on hold during the shutdown, and now it’s not clear whether the administration will offer farmers aid like Trump did in his first administration.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, right, films a social media post on a combine with farm owner Tyler Everett during a farm tour in Lebanon, Ind., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

American farmers have been through this before after Trump’s first trade war with China. The trade agreement China signed with the United States in 2020 promised massive purchases of U.S. crops. But the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade between the two nations just as the agreement went into effect. In 2022, U.S. farm exports to China hit a record, but then fell.

Soybean prices are actually still a little higher than they were a year ago even without China’s normal purchases of roughly one-quarter of the U.S. crop. That’s because this year’s soybean crop is a little smaller while domestic demand remained strong with the continued growth in biodiesel production.

But farmers are dealing with the soaring cost of fertilizer, seed, equipment and labor this year, and that is hurting their profits. The Kentucky farmer who is president of the American Soybean Association, Caleb Ragland, has said he worries that thousands of farmers could go out of business this year without significant Chinese purchases or government aid.

Ragland said he’s still optimistic that China will follow through on the purchases, but it’s hard to be confident in that right now with so few sales reported.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, right, speaks during a farm tour in Lebanon, Ind., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

“We don’t want to assume they won’t. But it’s going to be a wonderful day when we actually deliver those soybeans, and when there’s my money in hand and so forth and the transaction’s complete,” Ragland said.

China is the world’s largest buyer of soybeans. China bought more than $12.5 billion worth of the nearly $24.5 billion worth of U.S. soybeans that were exported last year.

But China quit buying American soybeans this year after Trump imposed his tariffs and continued to shift more of their purchases over to South America. Even before the trade war, Brazilian beans accounted for more than 70% of China’s imports last year, while the U.S. share fell to 21%, World Bank data shows.

Ragland said that every vender he talks to has told him they are increasing their prices for next year, which will continue to put pressure on farmers.

“We’re still looking at sharp losses and the red ink as we figure budgets for 26 is still very much in play,” he said.

AP Writer Didi Tang contributed to this report from Washington.

Epstein files reveal his obsession with Trump

Julie K. Brown and Emily Goodin, Miami Herald

President Donald Trump is mentioned in Jeffrey Epstein’s emails over 1,000 times — the most cited person in the tranche released this week by the House Oversight Committee.

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Despite all the questions the emails have raised about his relationship with Epstein, Trump on Friday continued to fan the flames of the scandal. On his social media platform “Truth Social,” Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate some of the influential figures named in the emails.

“I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” Trump wrote.

But no one is named more in the Epstein emails than Trump himself, revealing that years after his friendship with Epstein had waned, Trump remained front and center in Epstein’s emails as a figure whom he could use as currency in his conversations with journalists, world leaders, academics and wealthy men.

As Congress debates whether to force the release of DOJ’s files, the Miami Herald has reviewed many of the documents that are part of a trove of communications held by Epstein’s estate. In recent months, Epstein’s calendars have also been released by Democrats on the Oversight Committee and, like his emails, they reveal Epstein’s continued association with influential people in the years after he pleaded guilty in Florida to sex charges involving a minor.

The messages about Trump were among more than 20,000 documents released by the committee Wednesday. They were obtained from Epstein’s estate pursuant to a subpoena — and are separate from “the Epstein files” that members of Congress are trying to pry out of the Department of Justice and the FBI.

The Herald searched the most recent trove for documents containing Epstein’s e-mail address and variations on Trump’s name, isolating unique pages to avoid counting duplicate files twice. Other names were also searched, including former presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden. No one was mentioned more than Trump.

Emails show that the late financier and convicted sex offender tried to cast himself as a Trump expert and led his friends, girlfriends and political acquaintances to believe he had the inside track on Trump — for everything from who was being nominated to his cabinet to where the president was spending Thanksgiving.

More than once, Epstein suggests that he has compromising information on Trump, both before and after his first term as president.

The emails span a decade, from about 2009 to Epstein’s arrest in July 2019. Part of that period includes December 2018 — right as Epstein was once again under scrutiny. On Nov. 28, 2018, the Miami Herald published an investigation, Perversion of Justice, which examined how Epstein received an unusual federal immunity deal even though the FBI had evidence that he had raped and sexually abused dozens of girls in his Palm Beach mansion. The series went viral and led to public outrage and demands in Congress to reopen the investigation.

Several emails, written just days after the Herald’s series, suggest that the financier was weighing what to do in response to the renewed scrutiny of his case.

An unknown writer, whose name is redacted from the email, tries to console Epstein on Dec. 3, 2018, saying “It will all blow over! They’re really just trying to take down Trump and doing whatever they can to do that…!”

Epstein replies: “yes. thx. it’s wild. because i am the one able to take him down.”

None of the documents directly implicate Trump in Epstein’s sex crimes and Trump has adamantly denied he was involved in any wrongdoing. Still, Epstein, in an email two months later, makes it clear that Trump knew about “the girls.”

Writing to author Michael Wolff, he says: “trump said he asked me to resign. never a member ever. of course he knew about the girls he asked ghislaine to stop…”

The exchange seems to reference Trump’s statement that he had kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, where Maxwell had been recruiting girls for massages.

The messages also reveal that Epstein tried to leverage his association with Trump with world leaders.

In one message, Epstein suggests that Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov should use him to get “insight” on Trump before their first meeting in Helsinki in 2018.

“I think you might suggest to putin that lavrov can get insight on (Trump) talking to me,” Epstein wrote to former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland in a June 2018 email in advance of Trump’s meeting with Putin.

The emails also show Epstein’s preoccupation with Trump’s money and power, as he tallies how much of Trump’s worth is what Epstein’s accountant described as “nonsense” — and how much of Trump’s empire is the result of smoke and mirrors.

Trump “represents his ‘income’ as the GROSS receipts of his clubs,” means a nothing at all ZERO. no income as we no it,” Epstein wrote in January 2019 to Kathryn Ruemmler, former president Barack Obama’s White House counsel with whom Epstein shared many emails. “He lists his ‘assets,’ and their VALUE — but not the corresponding loans, against it. so no net number, hence meaningless.”

The emails don’t show any messages between Trump and Epstein — or between Epstein and Trump’s White House staff or cabinet members.

It’s unclear if this is because most of his contact with Trump was prior to 2009, or because Trump didn’t use email to communicate with Epstein — or because Epstein was making it all up.

Trump has said in the past that he doesn’t like to use email.

“I’m not an email person myself. I don’t believe in it,” he said in his first term as president. “I think it can be hacked, for one thing. When I send an email, I mean, if I send one, I send one almost never. I’m just not a believer in email. A lot of people have taught me that, including Hillary (Clinton). But, honestly, it could be maybe attacked. Who knows.”

The president is famous for working the phone, often dialing directly from his cell phone instead of going through the White House switchboard. During his presidency, he has been criticized for using a personal, less secure iPhone for communications.

Epstein doesn’t say in his communications that he has spoken directly with Trump. In fact, they reflect how much he keeps details about the president to himself, walking a fine line between boasting of his inside knowledge and distancing himself from a man whom he considered to be of lesser intelligence.

“i have met some very bad people, none as bad as trump. not one decent cell in his body,” Epstein wrote to Lawrence H. Summers, former President Obama’s treasury secretary and president emeritus of Harvard University.

The massive file release also contained many bizarre details — like when Epstein sent Trump a truck filled with $10,000 in baby food as payment for a bet concerning Trump’s former wife Marla Maples and her pregnancy.

In one interesting message to Maxwell, Epstein describes Trump as the “dog that hasn’t barked,” adding that one of the sex trafficking victims “spent hours at my house with him… he has never once been mentioned.” But the victim, whose name is redacted from the email, is the late Virginia Giuffre — who before her death wrote that she had no knowledge of Trump being involved in Epstein’s crimes.

Despite this and other notable blank spots — the president is unlikely to put the scandal behind him anytime soon. The White House continues to characterize the Epstein controversy as a Democratic “hoax.”

The new email dump, which came as Democrats were divided over ending the longest government shutdown in history, was described by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt as nothing more than a political “smear.”

But the emails are being scrutinized by the public and by influencers on social media, many of whom — both on the left and the right — are inaccurately decoding them. The emails are addressed to a variety of people and sometimes only Epstein’s side of the conversation is shown. None of them are in chronological order, making them hard to read and decipher.

“If anything they raise a lot more new questions than they answer,” acknowledged Matthew Dallek, a political science professor at George Washington University. “They just whet people’s appetite for more.”

Trump has stoked some of the public’s scrutiny with reports that he lobbied Republican representatives Nancy Mace and Lauren Boebert to take their signatures off a petition that would force a vote in the House on a bill requiring the Justice Department to release all its Epstein files.

The lawmakers — who were critical to the petition’s success — declined to be swayed.

The petition successfully garnered the necessary 218 signatures. And the House will vote on it next week, Speaker Mike Johnson said. While it is expected to pass the House, it faces long odds in the Senate. Then it must clear one final obstacle before it becomes law: Trump would have to sign it — or veto it.

sStaff writers Claire Healy, Ben Weider and Shirsho Dasgupta contributed to this story.

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