作者：Kate Sequeira
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 公立学校入学人数的下降催生了一种新兴且不断增长的合作伙伴关系，这有助于维持儿童护理中心的运营——空置的教室正被幼儿和婴儿填满。
从洛杉矶到索拉诺县，非营利日托运营商将这些本就以儿童为中心且利用率不足的设施（包括拥有充足可放置活动房空间的宽敞平地、空教室，甚至整个关闭的校园）视为一种途径，旨在向急需婴儿和幼儿护理的家庭扩大服务。在加州，3岁及以下年龄组的护理名额严重短缺。
作者：Itzel Luna
学区在寻找维持社区校园在入学人数 dwindle（减少）的情况下继续开放的方法时，将校园内的幼儿视为未来的学生——并将其视为在无需自行运营这些项目的情况下建立家庭忠诚度的机会。
“学校对于社区来说是一个非常值得信赖的地方，”Early Edge (早期教育机构) 执行主任 Patricia Lozano 说道。“如果我们能增加所有这些元素……我认为这只会让服务变得更便捷。”
最近，这些中心已经 [见 Child care, A7]
[图注] 教师 Sylvia Loera 在阿尔罕布拉 (Alhambra) 的 Park 小学校园内的一所幼儿园与孩子们一起工作。
作者：Laurence Darmiento
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 长期以来一直被认为是一个拥抱多元生活方式的进步州，但在汽车保险方面，它似乎还停留在 20 世纪 50 年代。
你是单身、离婚或丧偶，且需要为你的汽车购买保险？你支付的费用很可能比你的已婚邻居更多——这是一种得到该州和司法机构认可的惩罚。
加州的一家上诉法院上个月维持了一项下级法院的裁决，该裁决驳回了一项寻求废除保险公司因未婚者发生车祸的统计概率较高而对其收取更高费用权利的诉讼。预计该决定将被提起上诉。
由 11 名未婚驾驶员发起的这项诉讼专门寻求一项法院命令，旨在强迫保险专员里卡多·拉拉将婚姻状况从设定费率的可选因素中剔除。但里卡多·拉拉对此表示反对，尽管监管机构禁止考虑性别、年龄、种族和其他个人特征。
“这实际上是一个关于保险专员是否有能力挑选哪些民权法律适合执行的问题，”Christian Schreiber 说道。他是代表这些驾驶员的几位律师之一，这些驾驶员还针对 12 家保险公司就该规定提出了集体诉讼提案。
美国消费者联邦会开展的一项测试（在支持该诉讼的法律摘要中被引用）发现，未婚驾驶员支付的费用更高。在 2025 年 4 月，单身、离婚和丧偶的驾驶员从五家加州承保公司中的四家获得的报价中，六个月的保费最高高出 $108。总部位于洛杉矶的大型保险公司水星保险 (Mercury Insurance) 收取的差价最高，不过它为拥有 34 年或以上驾驶经验的丧偶驾驶员提供了较低的费率。该公司拒绝就该诉讼发表评论。
国家农产保险 (State Farm) 是加州最大的汽车保险公司，[见 Insurance, A10]
在橙县，律师萨布丽娜·里维拉 (Sabrina Rivera) 在 4 月份收到了一封电子邮件，发件人是一名对自己的移民案件状态感到恐慌的科罗拉多州男子。
他告诉里维拉，她是他的律师。但里维拉此前从未听说过这个名字，从未代表过他，也不明白他为什么认为她是他的律师。
该男子发送了与一名自称是里维拉的人的短信对话截图。有人正在冒用她的名字——以及她的州律师执业许可证号——通过诈骗让该男子相信她正在代表他参加驱逐出境程序。他告诉她，自 2 月以来，他已向冒充者支付了至少 $700。
律师和移民援助团体表示，在过去一年半里，移民法诈骗案激增，因为特朗普政府的打击行动导致数千起新案件涌入法院系统。
持有律师执照的律师也试图走系统捷径，在不知情的客户不知情的情况下，为其提交无效的庇护或合法永久居留申请。
法律领域一直容易滋生诈骗，但诈骗手段在过去一年中已演变得更加复杂。最近，诈骗者开始冒充在职律师的身份。
“我认为，对于利用他人的人来说，这确实是该领域任何人见过的最糟糕的环境，”洛杉矶县移民事务办公室负责人丹尼尔·夏普 (Daniel Sharp) 表示。
有些人依赖人工智能来生成看起来真实的律师照片和网站。其他诈骗者则从真实的在职律师那里截取视频和照片，并叠加不同的音频，以诱骗移民向他们汇款。
[参见 Scams, A5]
作者：Samantha Masunaga
一个隶属于加州大学洛杉矶分校 (UCLA) 的土拨鼠研究实验室开设了一个 OnlyFans (社交平台) 账号，发布在野外拍摄的土拨鼠视频，旨在为他们的研究筹集资金，并抵消联邦政府对大学的资金削减。
自 5 月底亮相以来，这个名为“OnlyMarms”的账号已发布了数十段视频。在其中一段视频中，一只被称为“1”的雌性土拨鼠赶走了一只名为“G”的好奇雄性土拨鼠，后者在她的洞穴周围徘徊，双方在追逐过程中发出尖叫。在另一段视频中，一只土拨鼠盯着野外相机，越来越靠近镜头。
“这些是野生动物，因此人们需要知道，我们只是在记录它们在自然环境中的影像，”加州大学洛杉矶分校 (UCLA) Blumstein 实验室的一年级研究生艾米莉·伦基 (Emily Renkey) 表示。“我们只是将其设定为一种让人们与我们一起在野外观察土拨鼠的方式。”
加州大学洛杉矶分校 (UCLA) 生态学和进化生物学教授、科罗拉多州洛基山生物研究站土拨鼠项目共同负责人丹·布卢姆斯坦 (Dan Blumstein) 表示，与 OnlyFans (社交平台) 上许多不适合在工作场所观看的内容不同，OnlyMarms 是全年龄段 (G-rated) 的，尽管偶尔的打斗可能会使其变为家长引导 (PG) 级别。
行为与生理生态学家肯·阿米蒂奇 (Ken Armitage) 于 2022 年去世，他于 1962. 年在洛基山研究站开始他的土拨鼠研究。他对黄腹土拨鼠的研究仍然是此类研究中持续时间最长的一项。2001 年阿米蒂奇退休后，布卢姆斯坦接管了该项目。
丹尼尔·布卢姆斯坦 (Daniel Blumstein)
在野外拍摄的土拨鼠视频是 OnlyMarms 的主角，该账号为实验室筹集资金。
布卢姆斯坦想出了 [参见 OnlyMarms, A6]
作者：Ben Wieder
华盛顿 —— 在经历了上周的一些波动后，托德·布兰奇 (Todd Blanche) 担任司法部长的提名似乎回到了正轨。
代理司法部长在周日晚上发布了一项命令，正式宣布终止这项所谓的反武器化基金，其金额近 $1.8 billion，原本将向特朗普总统的盟友提供款项。另一份新闻发布稿还对授予特朗普、其两名儿子及其公司的税务审计豁免权设定了限制。
这些公告足以说服两名持保留意见的共和党议员——德克萨斯州的参议员约翰·科宁 (John Cornyn) 和北卡罗来纳州的参议员汤姆·蒂利斯 (Thom Tillis) 在周一结束反对，从而清除了布兰奇提名最大的障碍。
该基金和豁免权是 [参见 Blanche, A6] 的产物。
“这些保证根本不值一提。它们并未撤回目前试图给予总统及其家人及其关联方未经授权的税务审计豁免权的尝试，”纽约大学法学院税务法律中心的政策主任 Brandon DeBot 表示。
作者：Noah Haggerty
在世纪之交，野火仅摧毁了约 3% 接触到的加利福尼亚州 (加州) 房屋。根据加州大学默塞德分校 (UC Merced) 的一项新研究，到 2020, 这一比例已上升至 18%。
“这确实令人沮丧 —— 我们已经尽力减轻火灾影响……但火灾摧毁的房屋却在增加，”美国地质调查局 (U.S. Geological Survey) 的研究科学家 Amanda Carlson 表示。她未参与该项研究，但在美国西部大部分地区发现了房屋幸存率下降的类似趋势。
这表明，数十年来清除房屋周围易燃植物以及加强房屋外墙以抵御火焰、热量和余烬的努力，正被日益极端的野火行为以及在易燃地区进行的建设所掩盖。
“火灾将继续增加，因为气候变化已经发生，”领导该研究的博士后科学家 Mukesh Kumar 表示。“令人鼓舞的消息是，我们已经确定了与较高生存率相关的因素 —— 即使是在加利福尼亚州 (加州)。”
近几十年来，为了应对部分由全球变暖和森林管理不善历史导致的破坏性日益增加的野火，加利福尼亚州 (加州) 已采取重大措施以提高房屋在野火中的生存概率。
[参见 Homes, A6]
[图注] Justin Casterline Getty Images
想要看一些土拨鼠的内容吗？试试 OnlyFans (社交平台)，或者更准确地说是 OnlyMarms。
在直升机相撞事故中，一名希腊国民和一名丹麦国民死亡，另有两人住院。这四架直升机均为希腊消防部门租用的私人运营商。该大陆的升温速度超过全球平均水平的两倍。作者：Derek Gatopoulos 和 Sylvie Corbet。在法国，波尔多周边地区的消防员在警戒一个面积是巴黎四倍且仍在燃烧的火灾遗迹，防止其再次复燃。雅典——周一，一个创纪录的炎热干燥夏季在欧洲势力范围进一步扩大，灭火飞机在希腊的一场大火上空盘旋，法国消防员试图稳定普罗旺斯的火势，而英国大部分地区记录到了近两个世纪以来最干燥的七月。英国气象局周一表示，根据初步统计数据，长时间的热浪和降雨缺乏导致英格兰和威尔士经历了近 200 年记录以来最干燥的七月。英国气象局（Met Office）表示，整个威尔士和英格兰的一半以上地区已正式进入干旱状态。在英国大部分地区出现酷暑之后，干旱期随之而来。希腊的强风有所缓解，使得消防飞行任务得以恢复；就在一天前，两架直升机在空中相撞，导致两名机组人员死亡。
微型国家瑙鲁将其国名改为 Naoero。这个珊瑚礁环礁曾被德国殖民，后由澳大利亚管理，直到 1968. 年成为独立共和国。作者：Charlotte Graham-McLay。新西兰惠灵顿——太平洋岛国瑙鲁的总统表示，该国已将国名改为 Naoero 共和国，以符合其国语的拼写和发音。随着 Naoero 这一名称的采用，该国成为最新一个通过更改国名来信号性地摆脱殖民过去的国家。非洲微型王国 Eswatini 在 2018. 年从 Swaziland 恢复为历史原名。其他国家也曾寻求将更名作为一种品牌重塑，例如土耳其在 2022 年请求联合国开始将该国称为 Türkiye（这是该国长期在境内使用的名称）。该国的国际代码将从 NRU 变为 NRO，其国民将被称为 dei-Naoero 而非 Nauruan。该国在国外通常被发音为 Now-roo，而新名称的发音为 Now-ero。政府周四在 Facebook 账号上发布的一份声明称，此举将使这个偏远的南太平洋岛国恢复其传统名称。Graham-McLay 为美联社撰稿。根据早前政府的一份声明，该国在国际上被称为 Nauru 仅仅是因为其当地名称对外国人来说难以发音，这是一种权宜之计而非选择。
【勘误】MLK 医院：在 8 月 3 日 A 版一篇关于马丁·路德·金社区医院寻求更多资金的文章中，错误地将 Cedars-Sinai 收到 Measure B 资金的金额写为 94 亿美元 十亿，应为 94 亿美元 百万。此外，文章将 MLK 社区医疗机构政府与社区关系副总裁 Atul Nakhasi 博士的一段话误认为是由 MLK 社区医疗机构媒体关系总监 Tony Weiss 所说。
“这项拟议的变更旨在更忠实地尊重我们国家的遗产、我们的语言和我们的身份，”总统 David Adeang 在 1 月份向议会提出该建议时表示。瑙鲁拥有 12,000 名居民，是世界上人口第三小的国家，仅次于图瓦卢和梵蒂冈。这个微小的珊瑚石灰
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据欧盟哥白尼气候服务机构称，自20世纪80年代以来，该大陆的升温速度超过全球平均水平的两倍。气温升高和持续的……这场大火被归咎于一个风力发电场的电力线路故障，并导致两名承包商被捕。美国海军上将警告中国不要试图主导印太地区。
美联社报道，帕帕罗（Paparo）的言论发表之际，南海局势依然紧张，中国的广泛海权主张与几个东南亚国家的主张存在重叠。菲律宾处于一系列与中国对抗的中心，特别是在一个有争议的浅滩周围，中国和菲律宾的船只在此多次对峙。
马来西亚吉隆坡——美国太平洋司令部负责人周一表示，中国和其他参与者的胁迫行为正在挑战地区稳定，并警告美国不会允许任何国家主导印太地区。萨缪尔·帕帕罗（Samuel Paparo）上将表示，一些参与者正在利用“虚假的合法性主张”来证明恐吓和胁迫行为的正当性。马尼拉指责北京采取危险操纵、水炮攻击以及试图拦截菲律宾的补给任务。中国否认这些指控，并坚持其在争议水域的领土主张。
“那不是法治，而是‘以法治国’（rule by law）。法律作为秩序工具与法律作为强权武器之间的这种区别，是我们这个时代决定性的分水岭，”他在由美国太平洋司令部在马来西亚组织的一次地区安全会议上通过视频链路表示。美国表示，在竞争性的主权主张中不采取立场，但支持航行自由和国际法。
80 岁的巴西总统卢拉启动连任竞选 作者：Mauricio Savarese
“这次巴西选举决定了拉丁美洲的未来，”工人党主席埃迪尼奥·席尔瓦（Edinho Silva）在周日的党代会上表示。阿根廷、巴拉圭、智利、秘鲁、厄瓜多尔和哥伦比亚近期都选出了受特朗普启发而上台的总统。
圣保罗——巴西总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦（Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva）很可能是最后一次连任竞选，其工人党周日确认了此事。这位 80 岁的领导人在10月投票前面临来自外国领导人的压力。这将是他第七次竞选最高职位。
弗拉维奥·博索纳罗（Flávio Bolsonaro）的父亲、前总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗曾是特朗普的盟友，但目前因企图发动政变而被判处 27 年监禁，处于居家监禁状态。卢拉的对手，参议员弗拉维奥·博索纳罗得到了特朗普政府成员、阿根廷总统哈维尔·米莱以及以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的公开支持。
卢拉成功地将中间党派从其右翼对手身边争取过来，在出席党代会时，他在民调中的支持率高于六个月前。巴西总统在党代会演讲中表示，他希望提升国家的国防工业并保护稀有矿产，宣布“任何中国人、美国人或法国人”在不尊重这个南美国家主权的情况下都不得触碰这些资源。
他的竞选团队正在宣传巴西所得税制度的改革，即低收入者支付更少，以及一个迅速获得广泛认可的债务豁免计划。卢拉表示：“为了改变这个国家的许多事情，我们将不得不更加大胆。”工人党政治人物对外国资助的协同自动化机器人宣传和社交媒体操纵带来的威胁表示担忧。
旨在影响其他党内成员的人员强调了外国干预的风险。现在投资。低门槛。提前进入。下一代媒体平台。
Aris Oikonomou AFP / Getty Images 一名消防员周一对希腊梅加拉地区的一场大火进行扑救。这场山火烧毁了约 420 平方公里，成为法国有记录以来最大的山火。周一返回的人员包括大西洋沿岸的旅游热点卡费雷特半岛，以及受火灾影响最严重的市镇勒波格，那里有 183 栋房屋被毁。营地仍保持关闭状态。干旱使植被更加干燥且更易燃，导致火势蔓延更快且燃烧更剧烈。
法国大规模火灾得到控制 在法国，在一次大规模山火得到控制后，数千名疏散人员于周一获准返回家中或度假住所。超过 224,000 人逃离，官员称这是该国在战时之外规模最大的平民疏散行动。
Gatopoulos 和 Corbet 为美联社撰稿。Corbet 在巴黎报道。Elena Becatoros（雅典）、Thomas Adamson（巴黎）和 Mike Corder（海牙）参与了报道。
国际法以及各国根据其权利运作的能力。司令官表示，该地区仍然是世界的地缘政治和经济重心，日益增长的不稳定因素和安全挑战使得盟友与合作伙伴之间的合作变得日益重要。Paparo 强调，海洋自由、海上安全和开放贸易是地区稳定的关键，并表示和平解决争端和尊重所有国家的主权对于维护印太秩序至关重要。
在之前的会议上，菲律宾国防部长吉尔伯托·特奥多罗 (Gilberto Teodoro) 誓言他的国家将继续“抵御”来自中国的威胁。
“美国对该地区复杂安全环境有着清晰的认识。我们的姿态和意图定义明确。美国是通过力量而非对抗来威慑中国，”Paparo 说道。“我们不会让任何国家主导该地区，或抹杀独立国家艰苦争取的主权权利。”
特奥多罗随后告诉记者，菲律宾的担忧不仅限于中国在南海的活动，他指出北京在其他地区的行动（包括近期向太平洋发射的弹道导弹）证明了其影响力的扩大和军事存在的增强。“中国无处不在……这是一个令人担忧的问题，”他说道。
美国印太地区的选民并破坏对巴西电子投票系统的信任。支持年轻的博尔索纳罗的视频。卢拉表示他正在捍卫巴西的国家主权。他最近与中国国家主席习近平进行了长时间通话，中国是巴西最重要的贸易伙伴之一。
周三在党代会上，卢拉表示他不希望特朗普成为敌人。将再次与卢拉共同竞选的巴西副总统热拉尔多·阿尔克明 (Geraldo Alckmin) 周日表示，巴西的电子投票系统“非常好，以至于它不会抢走阿根廷人和美国人的选票”，这是在影射米莱和特朗普。
他的支持者认为，他可以带领南美贸易集团——南方共同市场 (Mercosur) 与全球合作伙伴达成协议。巴西是该集团最大的经济体，但阿根廷、巴拉圭和乌拉圭也是成员国。特朗普政府对巴西出口产品征收了新关税，并将两个当地犯罪组织重新指定为恐怖组织，法律分析师称这可能会损害公司
并为其他类型的干预开辟了道路。这两项举措都发生在博尔索纳罗参议员访问白宫和美国国务院之后。与其父亲一样，博尔索纳罗参议员试图对巴西的投票系统播种毫无根据的怀疑。这些言论引起了巴西外交部的担忧，该部门在 7 月拒绝向两名美国国务院官员发放签证，据报道是因为担心他们也想采取同样的行动。特朗普及其政府经常基于毫无根据的指控，试图破坏国内外对选举的信心。但国务院否认了巴西的指控。阿根廷的米莱于 7 月 25 日来到圣保罗，在博尔索纳罗的自由党大会上发表讲话，并在侮辱卢拉以及监督长辈博尔索纳罗审判和定罪的最高法院法官时引发了一场外交危机。内塔尼亚胡录制了一段，Savarese 为美联社撰写。
他说，原计划由美军在周日发起“二战以来规模最大的袭击”。但在听取了包括沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼在内的关键海湾领导人的意见，以及应未具名伊朗官员的要求后，他决定取消该计划，给外交手段更多发挥时间。 Aamer Madhani 报道 华盛顿 —— 特朗普总统周一表示，新计划的德黑兰会谈是伊朗达成协议并避免美国升级对该国打击的“最后机会”。特朗普在椭圆形办公室发表讲话时表示，他预计将在未来一两天内开始谈判，以重新开放霍尔木兹海峡，并为伊朗解决美国对其核计划的担忧创造路径。但特朗普重申，他对伊朗的耐心正逐渐耗尽。“这是他们签署一份好文件的最后机会，”特朗普告诉记者。“第一阶段是开放海峡。第二阶段将是去核化，”总统说。“而那将需要一段时间。”周一早些时候，特朗普在社交媒体上批评伊朗“极其阴险”。他的愤怒源于伊朗声称，其周一与阿曼的会议仅专注于建立一条通过霍尔木兹海峡（全球石油贸易的关键航道）的安全航行临时路线。尽管特朗普沉浸在美军重创德黑兰领导层并摧毁其空军和海军的快感中，但伊朗打赌自己能比特朗普坚持得更久，因为特朗普面临弹药库存减少，且在 11 月中期选举前，执行一场不被美国选民欢迎的战争存在困难。“他们要求会面，有人会说‘恳求’，谈话开始了，而且近期还安排了更多会谈，但他们却公开且自豪地表示，他们没有进行任何讨论，没有任何谈论内容，他们只在与阿曼打交道，”特朗普抱怨道。特朗普表示，在海湾盟友卡塔尔、沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国的敦促下，他决定暂缓命令美军对伊朗发起新的大规模袭击。特朗普说，无论“伊朗是否愿意承认，我们事实上正在交谈”。 由 Justin Kabumba 和 Chinedu Asadu 报道 布尼亚，刚果 —— 在刚果东部宣布当前埃博拉疫情爆发后不久，埃丝特·卢图拉停止了产前检查。在怀孕中期，这位 26 岁的女性担心仅仅因为发烧（这是一个常见的误解）就被隔离。“这就是为什么我在等待疾病不再广泛传播，”她在伊图里省首府布尼亚的家中告诉美联社。
该省及疫情中心于 5 月 15 日宣布。但这可能是一个致命的错误。据联合国人口基金 (UNFPA) 在刚果的副国代表诺艾米·达尔蒙特 (Noemi Dalmonte) 称，随着疫情消息的传播，伊图里省的产妇死亡率很快翻了一番，平均每周约有 6 名女性死于分娩并发症。
尽管非洲人在公共卫生紧急情况下由于安全顾虑而避开医疗中心是很常见的，但达尔蒙特在一次采访中表示：“在埃博拉疫情中，这种情况更严重，因为关于埃博拉的谣言很多。”今年疫情爆发前，每周平均有 3.1 例产妇死亡；而从 5 月 25 日到 7 月 19 日，这一数字跳升至 5.8 例。UNFPA 的数据显示，在同一期间，医疗中心外的死亡率也从 9.1% 跃升至 17.4%。由于一些心存疑虑的居民甚至质疑埃博拉是否真实存在，且在刚果最偏远、最动荡的地区，卫生工作者在物资匮乏的情况下艰难应对疫情，孕妇们获得的护理比以往任何时候都少。
整个非洲大陆每年记录的妊娠死亡人数约为 180,000 例。随着刚果在与记录中增长最快的埃博拉疫情作斗争（已有 1,600 多例确诊死亡），卫生和救援人员警告称，由于孕妇避开医院，且该国原本就极高的产妇死亡率进一步攀升，一场阴影危机正在显现。
刚果的分娩并发症在全球范围内处于最高水平，无论是每名女性的分娩次数还是分娩相关死亡率。在这个广袤的中非国家，女性几乎……
LATIMES.COM 星期二，2026 年 8 月 4 日 A3 Atta Kenare AFP / Getty Images
特朗普称新谈判为伊朗的“最后机会”
一名在德黑兰的女性经过一块反美广告牌，牌子上画着被推翻的自由女神像以及持有伊朗和其他国家旗帜的人们。
……关于阻止伊朗开发核武器。
特朗普为德黑兰设定的最后期限是：要么屈服，要么面临对桥梁和发电厂的攻击——他说这些袭击将意味着“整个文明将毁灭”。特朗普可能仍会得出结论，认为大规模升级与伊朗的冲突是必要的。
随后在 6 月，特朗普在社交媒体上写道，威胁要“非常强力地”打击伊朗，并夺取伊朗在哈格岛的能源基地，以“完全控制其石油和天然气市场”；但他在后来的帖子中又取消了袭击，称与伊朗高级领导人的和平谈判已取得进展。
但批评者表示，他的犹豫可能也反映了政府内部一个心照不宣的共识：单凭美国的军事力量可能不足以迫使伊朗退让，并结束这场已经持续数月的战争——而特朗普此前将这场战争轻描淡写地描述为为期数周的“短途出游”。
总统没有说出口的是，这样的尝试需要美国军队在伊朗境内地面部署——对于一个竞选主张避免涉足海外纠葛、并批评前任政府陷入无尽战争的总统来说，这在政治上是一个冒险的提议。
“我认为我们现在看到的是一位手段相当反复无常的总统，”亚利桑那州民主党人、参议院军事委员会成员马克·凯利 (Mark Kelly) 参议员在 CBS 新闻的《面对国家》节目中表示。“在此时此刻，他正试图让我们回到 2 月份。我认为如果他能——如果他有一个可以按下的大型重启按钮——他一定会选择那个方案。”
在最新的这一集中，特朗普暗示本·萨尔曼在使其决定不升级战斗方面发挥了尤为重要的作用。在整个过程中，已经出现了几个时刻……
这场冲突中，特朗普表现出其对好战风格的倾向，却在最后一刻退缩，同时声称他的威胁推动了进展：美国总统在周六与该王国的实际领导人进行了电话沟通，随后宣布停止袭击。王储传达称，如果德黑兰通过针对美国部分海湾盟友采取行动来回应美国的新一轮轰炸，战斗的升级可能会对全球经济产生严重影响，据一名获悉通话情况但未透露姓名的人士称。
在4月初，美国和伊朗同意进行为期两周的停火，这一公告是在……之前不到两小时发布的。
孕妇在埃博拉疫情期间避开刚果医院 Moses Sawasawa 联合通讯社 ELODIE，当时怀孕八个月，6月在刚果布尼亚家门外。平均有六个孩子。尽管努力打击错误信息，但一些居民对疫情持有错误看法。根据联合国最新数据，2023年刚果至少有 19,000 名女性死于妊娠并发症，与印度持平，在全球范围内仅次于尼日利亚。
“现在，如果你觉得不舒服去医院，他们会说这是埃博拉，然后立即把你隔离。这就是让人们害怕的地方，”布尼亚居民、正处于怀孕期的 Elodie Yabiri 说道。如今，伊图赖州的卫生工作者表示，由于人们担心感染风险，就诊人数正在下降。这种类型的埃博拉目前没有经过批准的治疗方法或疫苗。Yabiri 表示，她尽可能避开医院。只要她还能感觉到未出世的孩子在活动，她就认为一切还正常。
需要护理的女性也担心被卷入暴力冲突。在错误信息或对严格疫情管控措施感到愤怒的居民煽动下，埃博拉治疗中心遭到了攻击。这次疫情使刚果本已不堪重负的医疗系统更加紧张，导致那些仍来寻求产前护理或分娩的孕妇就医困难。在五个受影响省份的医疗设施中，工作人员和物资正被重新调配到应急响应中，从而减少了获得基本产妇护理服务的机会。
在布尼亚的 Bénédicte 诊所，医疗主任 Sonny Mwembo 医生表示，每月登记产前护理的女性人数已从 60 人下降到约 10 人。即便在开展努力数周之后……
欧洲部分地区试图避免能源危机 作者：Justin Spike 匈牙利布达佩斯 —— 随着多瑙河水位创历史新低，迫使发电厂濒临停工，中东欧许多政府正采取措施节约电力以避免能源危机。持续的干旱和接连的极端热浪使这条欧洲最大的河流之一失去了水源，导致匈牙利首都布达佩斯的多瑙河水位在周一降至约 4 英寸，远低于 2018 年创下的 13 英寸的历史最低记录。
由于预报没有显著降雨，多瑙河水位预计在未来几天甚至几周内都不会上涨；且随着新一轮极端热波席卷该地区，日最高气温超过 100 华氏度，电力和用水量正在上升。多瑙河的记录低水位已将匈牙利唯一的核电站——由苏联建造、拥有四个反应堆的帕克斯 (Paks) 核电站，推向了其投入运行 44 年来首次完全停电的边缘。帕克斯核电站使用多瑙河水为其反应堆冷却，由于四个反应堆相继停机，周一仅产生 240 兆瓦的电力，而非通常的 2,000 兆瓦。
获准公开评论并要求匿名。此人士补充称，沙特官员在与特朗普政府的接触中强调，该王国有能力抵御伊朗潜在的进一步袭击——同样作为能源巨头的卡塔尔和阿拉伯联合酋长国也是如此——但科威特在面对伊拉克境内伊朗支持的民兵袭击时可能更为脆弱。在周一发布到 Facebook 的视频中，匈牙利总理彼得·马扎尔 (Péter Magyar) 表示，工程师们已设法让该电厂最后一台运行中的涡轮机暂时运转，从而避免了原预计在周末发生的停机。马扎尔表示，全面的停电可能要到周二或周三才会发生。同样在周一，伊朗司法部门表示，在判定两名男子在去年的 12 天战争以及当前的冲突期间为以色列从事间谍活动后，已将其执行死刑。司法部门旗下的 Mizan 通讯社
确认两人身份为 Omid Behzad 和 Pouria Safvat，他们被指控提供军事坐标、图像及其他用于袭击伊朗目标的机密情报。“这是一个非常好的消息，因为在用电量最高的一天，我们仍然可以避免 Paks 电厂的全面停机，至少在短期内可以，”他说道。匈牙利政府上周要求主要工业用户限制电力消耗，并寻求家庭自愿节电以维持供应，特别是在下午 5 点至晚上 10 点的用电高峰时段。上周，伊朗公开处决了两名被判定在 1 月份反政府抗议活动中杀害四名警察的男子。Madhani 为美联社撰稿。美联社驻特拉维夫记者 Melanie Lidman 和驻华盛顿记者 Josh Boak 对本报道亦有贡献。尽管节电措施最初是自愿的，
但马扎尔政府在周六发布了一项法令，允许将其强制应用于大型工业或商业消费者。他周一表示，节电行动使前一天的用电量减少了 700 兆瓦，并感谢匈牙利人的努力。据援助组织称，至少有 44 名受感染的医护人员死亡。许多其他医护人员因抗议缺乏薪资而离职。与此同时，邻国的工厂发电量也大幅下降，航运和农业也受到干扰。自 5 月中旬宣布疫情以来，已记录到至少 12 起针对医疗设施和医疗队的袭击。罗马尼亚军队在周一使用了 397 磅炸药炸毁多瑙河下游 Bala 运河附近的岩石，试图将水流重新引向河流主干道并流向
国有 Cernavoda 核电站。“我们正在尽一切努力让公众意识到这种疾病有多危险，”伊图里 (Ituri) Rwampara 卫生区的流行病学家兼社区调查员 Ghislain Maneba 博士说。“我们日以继夜地工作，而且没有报酬。”在罗马尼亚，多瑙河的水流量已下降至每秒 1,500 立方米，不到 7 月平均水平的三分之一。当局已经关闭了 Cernavoda 电厂的一个反应堆单元，目前该电厂仅以约一半的正常功率运行。疾病高风险女性。埃博拉病毒罕见但传染性极强且病情严重，通常致命。它通过接触呕吐物、血液或精液等体液，以及接触被污染的表面和材料（如床上用品和衣物）在人群中传播。代理总理 Ilie Bolojan 宣布能源部门进入全国警戒状态。
周五，并警告说多瑙河的低水位威胁到切尔纳沃达（Cernavoda）第二座反应堆的关闭。他呼吁公民在傍晚用电高峰时段自愿限制用电。当亲人患病时，女性通常是主要的护理者。在这次疫情中，许多女性也处于一线卫生工作者的岗位上。美联社报道此次疫情的记者在响应人员中看到了孕产妇卫生工作者。在塞尔维亚，多瑙河水位创历史新低，导致该国关键的水电站仅以 20% 的容量运行，促使总理朱罗·马库特（Djuro Macut）在周一主持了一次聚焦能源问题的紧急会议。与此同时，达尔蒙特（Dalmonte）表示，推迟就医并避开医疗设施的孕妇“可能并非死于埃博拉病毒本身，而是因为能够救她们的医疗服务不再可用、不再被信任或不再安全”。
Spike 为美联社撰稿。美联社记者，塞尔维亚贝尔格莱德的 Jovana Gec 和英国莱明顿温泉（Leamington Spa）的 Stephen McGrath 对本报道做出了贡献。Kabumba 和 Asadu 为美联社撰稿。Asadu 在尼日利亚阿布贾报道。
作者：Lindsey Wasson, Manuel Valdes 和 Gene Johnson
华盛顿州斯波坎 —— 一些返回到华盛顿州东部被摧毁社区的居民发现，周末在干旱土地上爆发的山火将他们的家夷为平地，院子里覆盖着焦黑的碎片。在某些情况下，只剩烟囱还屹立不倒。
截至周一，在州内第二大城市斯波坎及其周边的火灾已烧毁约 12.5 平方英里，天空被烟雾和霾笼罩。微风和较低的温度有助于消防员开展工作，但约 700 栋建筑已被摧毁，约 67,000 人处于撤离令之下。
在斯波坎的一个社区里，还残留着发黑的车辆、被高温扭曲的一艘船以及融化的塑料回收箱。街道对面，草坪依然翠绿，房屋幸免于难，居民们继续使用软管或洒水器浇灌他们的房产。
“这里像个战争地带，”米里亚姆（Miriam）说。“没有什么可救的了。”
“到了我们这个年纪，我们还想重建吗？”她的丈夫问道。
斯波坎县警长办公室发言人马克·格雷戈里（Mark Gregory）下士表示，该县最初收到了近 300 份失踪人员报告，但到周一时，除了 14 份以外已全部处理完毕。当局表示，那些尚未解决的报告更有可能是指撤离后未取得联系的人，而非真正失踪或处于危险之中的人。
返回的人员中包括 76 岁的米里亚姆和丹尼尔·西姆（Daniel Sim）。米里亚姆用手捂住口，审视着他们自 2005 年起居住的房屋遗迹。
49 岁的安吉拉（Angela）和韦德·迪瑟雷奇（Wayde Deatherage）夫妇于周六下午 3 点后不久带着儿子撤离，抢救了几个装有家庭照片和传家戒指的箱子，但没能带走太多其他东西。韦德·迪瑟雷奇走了一些后路，在傍晚时分返回。他在街道尽头停下，给妻子打电话：“我们的房子没了。”
这对夫妇周日回到了他们的房产地。“只剩下灰烬了，”安吉拉·迪瑟雷奇在谈到他们住了近 22 年的家时说道。
华盛顿州自然资源部发言人考特尼·詹姆斯（Courtney James）表示，斯波坎地区的山火完全处于失控状态。
这些火灾是美国西部数十起火灾中的一部分，使联邦、州和地方机构的应对能力达到了极限。在华盛顿州，至少 390 平方英里的土地已被烧毁。
贾娜·詹森（JANA JENSEN，右）与儿子阿伦（Aaren）在华盛顿州斯波坎市清理其父母房屋的遗骸。
Wasson, Valdes 和 Johnson 为美联社供稿。Wasson 和 Valdez 在斯波坎报道，Johnson 在西雅图报道。
作者：Kevin Rector
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 周一对特朗普政府提起两项诉讼——一项旨在阻止特朗普总统对国际贸易伙伴实施的最新一轮关税，另一项旨在阻止其政府将贫困家庭的个人数据共享给移民官员。
此前，该政府曾寻求获取医疗补助 (Medicaid) 接收者、SNAP 食品援助接收者、向美国国税局 (IRS) 报税的移民以及全国各州注册选民的个人数据。所有这些要求也都曾在法庭上遭到挑战，并取得了不同程度的成功。
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 州总检察长罗布·邦塔 (Rob Bonta) 表示，他的办公室与其他民主党领导的州共同发起了这些诉讼，旨在约束一位无法无天的总统，因为他推行的政策威胁到了那些已经在为支付基本生活必需品而苦苦挣扎的美国家庭。
邦塔表示，新关税是一项“失败且非法的经济政策”的一部分，该政策此前已在法院被拦截。他指控，拟议的数据共享是特朗普政府为了针对其政治对手而采取的更广泛且非法的“大规模监控计划”的一部分。
邦塔的办公室目前已针对现任特朗普政府提起了 82 起诉讼。
关税之争
特朗普最新的关税税率在 10% 到 12.5% 之间，于上月底生效，适用于 80 多个国家，包括美国一些最亲密的盟友和最大的贸易伙伴，如加拿大、墨西哥和欧盟。在此之前，特朗普政府宣布将对许多加拿大产品征收 50% 的新关税，并定于本月生效。
白宫此前为关税和数据共享政策辩护，称这些政策是特朗普“美国优先”议程的一部分，旨在提高美国家庭的经济地位。
在给《时报》的独立声明中，白宫辩称新关税是打击国际市场强迫劳动的一种合法手段（白宫指称强迫劳动对美国产生了负面影响），并驳斥数据共享的挑战是民主党试图保护非法移民而非美国家庭的行为。
“关税就是税收，美国人民不能也不应该承担由总统失败且非法的经济政策所带来的额外成本——无论总统多么希望他们这样做，”邦塔在宣布向美国国际贸易法院提起诉讼时表示。
特朗普此前曾为他的关税辩护（包括此前一套被美国最高法院裁定为非法的关税），称其为纠正多年来国际伙伴利用美国而采取的不公平贸易惯例所必需。然而，许多经济学家已经认定，关税成本正被转嫁给美国消费者，并导致持久的通货膨胀，从而在全国范围内造成经济痛苦。
此前特朗普政府两次尝试单方面向贸易伙伴征收关税，在面对加利福尼亚州 (加州) 和其他州类似的法律挑战时，均被法院驳回。今年 2 月，最高法院驳回了特朗普以紧急状态实施的一系列广泛关税。5 月，国际贸易法院撤销了另一套关税。
特朗普政府表示，最新关税是由另一项在之前诉讼中未被考虑的法律授权的——该法律与打击全球贸易中的强迫劳动有关。
数据共享之战
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 加入了一个由民主党领导的州组成的类似联盟，在华盛顿特区的联邦法院提起诉讼，挑战共享贫困家庭数据的行为。
在一次早晨的新闻发布会上，邦塔表示，他关注的问题之一是移民官员将利用数据，锁定那些合法通过该计划接受援助、且孩子为美国公民的非法移民父母。
该诉讼挑战了特朗普政府上个月发布的一项通知，该通知宣布儿童与家庭管理局将开始与外部机构共享联邦“贫困家庭临时援助”计划（Temporary Assistance for Needy Families）受益人的个人信息——其中包括美国国土安全部，该部门下设移民与海关执法局以及其他移民执法单位。
“他们正在寻求社会保障信息、婚姻状况和收入信息，”他说道。“我们认为，他们可能对这些信息感兴趣，以便潜在地针对家长。”
他表示，他认为数据共享是特朗普政府一项更广泛努力的一部分，旨在尽可能多地收集数据，从而针对那些不符合政府政治议程的个人，包括在移民政策以及堕胎和性别肯定护理等问题上的立场。
“在特朗普政府为了积累更多的人员个人信息而继续违法的同时，我们将继续采取行动保护我们人民的隐私，”邦塔（Bonta）说道。
该计划每年向各州提供 160 亿美元 billion 的拨款，各州将其用于向低收入家庭提供现金援助。邦塔的办公室表示，加利福尼亚州 (加州) 每月约有 350,000 个家庭通过该计划获得支持。
各州的诉讼认为，依赖劳工法仅仅是特朗普用来征收新关税的“掩护”，并且“在所谓的国际供应链强制劳动问题与所征收的全球性概括关税之间没有合理的逻辑关联”。
邦塔表示，与国土安全部共享计划数据将明显违反设立该基金的法律。
“特朗普政府正在利用一个旨在确保儿童不挨饿、帮助困难家庭重新站起来的计划，来为其大规模监控行动提供燃料。这是残酷的、不必要的且违法的，”邦塔在一份声明中说道。
邦塔与其他 24 个州的总检察长或州长共同提起此案。
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 正在与其他州共同在法庭上起诉，以阻止美国卫生与公众服务部与国土安全部共享医疗补助（Medicaid）受益人的个人数据，尽管其中部分数据已经被共享。
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 还在与其他州共同在法庭上起诉，以阻止美国农业部要求各州移交数百万名补充营养援助计划（SNAP）受益人的个人数据的要求。美国农业部在提出该要求时威胁称，将削减不遵守规定的州的资金。法院已阻止了资金暂停执行，但部分数据已被共享。
[图注] 最新关税适用于 80 多个国家。上图为长滩港。
作者：David G. Savage
华盛顿 —— 加利福尼亚州 (加州) 及其他 22 个由民主党领导的州周一敦促最高法院，阻止总统特朗普通过美国邮政署 (U.S. Postal Service) 控制邮寄投票的计划。
他们表示，在选举年度的此时此刻，实施一套新的邮寄选票规定已经太晚了。他们称，这样做会导致错误，包括符合条件且已登记的选民被告知他们不在联邦政府的批准名单上。
“由于错误风险高且纠错窗口有限，数百万依赖邮寄投票的选民——尤其是残疾选民和农村地区选民——很可能会被拒绝发放邮寄选票并被剥夺投票权，”他们告诉法院。
更广泛地说，他们认为宪法“将制定联邦选举规则的责任委托给了各州和国会，而非总统”。
大法官们可能会在几天内就是否允许特朗普政府的计划在通过新的详细指南之前继续执行做出决定。
上周，特朗普政府的总检察长 D. John Sauer 向最高法院提交了一份紧急上诉，认为波士顿的法官在阻止该政府对邮寄投票采取新的联邦限制措施时行动过于匆忙。
他主张法官目前应当退后，尽管中期选举仅剩三个月时间。
特朗普的行政命令要求美国邮政署使用各州提供的符合条件的邮寄选票选民名单。直到现在，各州仍拥有登记联邦和州选举选民的宪法权力。目前，近三分之一的美国人通过邮寄投票。
该命令要求国土安全部编制各州符合投票条件的公民名单。并且告知邮政署，必须使用这些名单来限制谁可以进行邮寄投票。
“除非相关个人已被列入特定州的名单，否则美国邮政署不得发送任何个人的邮寄选票或缺席选票，”该命令指出。
包括总部位于洛杉矶的 Inclusive Action for the City 在内的移民权利团体，也正在起诉以阻止特朗普政府将美国国税局 (IRS) 的纳税人数据与国土安全部共享的计划。特朗普政府表示，数据共享将仅用于针对罪犯，但移民权利倡导者谴责此举企图达到相反的目的——针对那些已经在该国生活多年并纳税的移民。
[图注] 5月，选举工作人员在洛杉矶县分拣邮寄选票。
am said. “There’s nothing to save.”
her husband asked.
[诈骗，接 A1 篇] “人们比以前更渴望获得服务。”亚历山德拉·洛扎诺 (Alexandra Lozano) 拥有华盛顿州的执业律师资格并在商业区 (Commerce) 设有办公室，她在 6 月交回了律师执照并关闭了她的律师事务所。客户声称，她在客户不知情的情况下，通过捏造家庭暴力和人口贩卖的故事来申请人道主义签证。律师和非营利组织表示，他们已经确认了至少 60 名以洛杉矶为基地的移民曾是她的客户。洛约拉移民司法诊所 (Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic) 的临床监督律师卢塞罗·奥尔蒂斯 (Lucero Ortiz) 表示，实际人数可能高得多。美国天主教慈善组织 (Catholic Charities USA) 的通讯副总裁凯文·布伦南 (Kevin Brennan) 表示：“这些人试图遵守规则并引导自己通过一个非常复杂的法律系统。他们的良好意愿被利用了。”该组织代表
全国 170 多个宗教机构。在其提供直接法律服务的组织中，有 60 多个被骗子冒充。这些组织在过去一年中处理了一千多起诈骗案件。作为洛杉矶天主教慈善协会 (Catholic Charities of Los Angeles) 的成员，Esperanza 移民权利项目在特朗普总统重新就任以来，几乎每周都会收到关于其律师被冒充的潜在举报电话。临时项目主任 Jose Luis Garcia 表示：“我认为这是该领域从业人员所见过的利用人们心理最糟糕的环境。”最近，这种情况每天都在发生。由于举报非常零散且分散在数十个机构中，关于诈骗案件规模的数据很少。——洛杉矶县移民事务办公室主任 Daniel Sharp。联邦贸易委员会在 2025, 收到了 1,626 起移民服务诈骗投诉，高于前一年的 1,315 起和 623 报告 in 2023. 在其中一个案例中，律师表示，一个家庭支付了高达 $30,000, 的费用。美国天主教慈善协会 (Catholic Charities USA) 负责迁移和难民安置服务的 Christopher Ross 表示，有人为了支付最终被证明是虚假的服务而出售了汽车等个人财产。根据执行移民审查办公室发布的公开数据分析，截至 6 月下旬，今年全美共有 26 名移民律师面临纪律处分。其中 8 名是持有加利福尼亚州 (加州) 执业执照的律师，超过了 2025. 全年的 6 宗报告案例。洛杉矶的一名男子想申请绿卡，并在 6 月向一名冒充律师的人支付了 $6,000。他收到了一份虚假的绿卡批准书，但那名假律师要求他通过 Zelle 额外发送 $4,000，以便将正式文件邮寄给他，洛杉矶天主教慈善协会移民和难民安置项目主任 Joel Rodriguez 说道。他发送了这笔钱，但从未收到文件。一名发言人表示，州律师协会在 2025 年 7 月至今年 6 月期间收到了 1,637 起针对非律师的投诉。（这些并非全部与移民案件相关。）该机构在 2025 收到 1,223 起投诉，再前一年为 908 起。诈骗金额通常从几百美元到数万美元不等。
一名反对该措施的人士表示，选区划分不公和黑金已使立法机构与该州的选民脱节，而“认为你可以将司法分支变成那个功能失调系统的一部分，这太可怕了。”
作者：John Hanna 堪萨斯州托皮卡 (TOPEKA, Kan.) —— 堪萨斯州选民将在周二决定是否选举州最高法院法官，而不是由州长任命。此举由保守派推动，多年来他们对法院在堕胎、学校资助和死刑等问题上的裁决感到不满。
共和党立法者反感的裁决 共和党立法者将堪萨斯州法院在过去二十年中的裁决作为需要做出改变的理由。如果宪法修正案通过，支持者希望在 2033. 之前在由七名成员组成的法院中选出至少四名保守的、反对堕胎的法官。最近，一名地区法院法官在 7 月恢复了选民在选举日后寄回邮寄选票的三天宽限期，而这一期限此前已被共和党立法者取消。正寻求共和党州长候选人提名的堪萨斯州参议院议长 Ty Masterson 称该决定“令人愤怒”，并敦促人们在该投票问题上投赞成票。在日益激烈的争议中，堪萨斯州正在考虑这一改变。
其他州昂贵的司法选举正使其法院变得更具党派色彩，独立性降低。去年，威斯康星州一场单一的州最高法院竞选支出就突破了 $100 million。同一位法官——最近一次最高法院空缺职位的最终入选者——堪萨斯州州长、受任期限制的民主党人劳拉·凯利 (Laura Kelly)。密歇根州卫生与公共服务部表示，两人均有潜在健康问题，可能受到了肠道疾病和脱水的影响。美联社 密歇根州兰辛市——州卫生官员周一宣布，密歇根州的环孢子虫 (cyclospora) 疫情中已有两人死亡，这是美国首次确认与这种微小寄生虫相关的死亡病例。该部门表示，将不会提供关于这些死亡病例的更多信息。
LATIMES.COM 星期二，2026年8月4日 A5
恐惧被驱逐，被骗者听到了那个人的声音
再次。律师们告诉他们，她的案子“基本上是不可能的”。他们决定再试一次，并与该男子预约了时间。奥尔蒂斯 (Ortiz) 表示，当移民意识到自己被骗时，他们往往没有钱来聘请真正的法律代理人。如果提交了虚假的申请，他们的案件会变得更加复杂，导致未来的法律工作费用更昂贵，并可能使他们面临被立即驱逐出境的风险。
他向他们兜售了一个梦想。“他承诺能让我们的案件获得成功，”她说。“他给了我们希望。所以我们签署了合同。”在三年的时间里，在案件停滞不前的情况下，他们向其支付了 $14,000。
这种欺诈行为仅增加了过度紧张的移民系统的压力。现在数以千计的移民正在寻求新的法律代理，而该地区大多数非营利和公益法律服务已达到饱和状态，且其资金被特朗普政府削减。
现在，他拒绝开门。那天晚上，她的儿媳彻夜未眠，在互联网上寻找答案。她搜索了他的州律师执业编号。没有结果。她查看了加利福尼亚州 (加州) 的律师数据库。依然没有结果。然后，她得到了一个线索。但这个男人不是律师。他是一名移民顾问。
:: 移民顾问不是律师，但可以获得加利福尼亚州 (加州) 的许可来执行某些职能，例如填写表格。
十二月的一个下午，玛莎 (Martha) 在奥克斯纳德 (Oxnard) 一栋办公楼的大厅里走来走去。她很紧张，但很坚定。Public Counsel 移民权利项目的主管律师凯瑟琳·里瓦斯 (Kathleen Rivas) 表示，虽然这个职业是合法的，但它已成为不法分子的温床，这些人经常自称是律师，并猎杀弱势移民。
就在几英尺外，她三年前多前聘请来处理她的入籍案件的男人躲在办公室里，显然在躲避她。但在经历了数月没有得到回答的质询后，玛莎决心获得答案。
2023 年初，一位家庭朋友向玛莎和她的丈夫推荐了这个男人。这对夫妇之前已经面谈了几位律师。
洛约拉移民司法诊所 (Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic) 的主任马里莎·蒙特斯 (Marissa Montes) 曾被某人冒名顶替，此人联系了移民。
堪萨斯州选民将决定是否选举法官进入该州最高法院，以决定是否允许堕胎。双方的总支出已超过 $12 million。
阻止了 2025 一项禁止跨性别未成年人接受性别肯定护理法律的执行。马斯特森 (Masterson) 将其描述为“激进的”。包括马斯特森在内，致力于推翻最高法院保护措施的立法者参与撰写了这项提案。共和党人批评的裁决名单还包括追溯到 2004 年的教育资金裁决。最高法院的决定
迫使立法者增加资金以遵守州宪法。在 2022 年那次投票七周后，当时作为共和党候选人的州总检察长克里斯·科巴赫 (Kris Kobach) 在威奇托的一个共和党俱乐部表示，选举大法官将“缓慢且安静地”将反堕胎大法官安置在最高法院。据《马里恩县记录报》(Marion County Record) 报道，马斯特森 (Masterson) 在 11 月对一个保守派团体——马里恩县自由爱国者协会 (Marion County Patriots for Liberty) 发表的讲话中说：“如果我们选举最高法院，他们就不会强迫你们在学校上花钱。”该“投赞成票”运动的最大捐赠者——在该运动 3.7 百万美元的支出中提供了 1.7 百万美元——是一家总部位于纳什维尔、支持共和党候选人、团体和事业的非营利组织。该州最具影响力的反堕胎团体“堪萨斯生命之友” (Kansans for Life) 在最近 11 天的时间里，在邮件宣传册和短信上至少花费了 87,000 美元。堕胎仍然是一个关键问题
在 2022 年一次公开投票确认了最高法院 2019 年的一项里程碑式裁决（该裁决认为堪萨斯州《权利法案》保证了身体自主权）之后，选举州最高法院大法官在共和党人中变得流行起来。Operation Michigan 的主席特洛伊·纽曼 (Troy Newman) 表示，“堪萨斯州人可以通过投票‘赞成’来结束这场堕胎统治”。报告首批 2 起与寄生虫相关的美国死亡病例。该寄生虫会感染与人类粪便接触过的食物，最常见于农产品使用受污染的水进行灌溉或清洗时。根据美国疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 的说法，摄入该寄生虫会导致肠道疾病，其特征是“频繁且有时是爆发性的排便”。联邦卫生官员已确定在五个美国州的 Taco Bell 门店供应的来自墨西哥的生菜是这次大规模爆发的源头。总体而言，环孢子虫 (cyclospora) 病例数创下了美国纪录。自 5 月 1 日以来，CDC 已收到
洛杉矶时报 (Los Angeles Times) 通过 Facebook 和 WhatsApp 的插图，她说道。一名发言人表示，（相关部门将）发出停止并终止通知，并将案件移交给当地执法机构。她试图举报这起诈骗，但碰了壁。州律师协会建议蒙特斯 (Montes) 联系当地当局，但洛杉矶警方没有管辖权，因为诈骗者声称位于犹他州，而受害者位于科罗拉多州。她联系了冒充者使用的银行，但该公司表示如果没有警方报告，他们无法采取任何行动。:: 律师们表示，如今的移民诈骗局面是数十年演变的结果。奥尔蒂斯 (Ortiz) 表示，最脆弱的是那些在美生活数十年但无法获得移民合法化途径的移民。最后一次全面的移民改革通过于 1986 年，当时的《移民改革与控制法》使数百万名
无证移民合法化。“可怕的是，没有一种机制能真正阻止这个人，”蒙特斯说。在橙县 (Orange County)，里维拉 (Rivera) 向州律师协会举报了她的冒充者，该协会正在调查。新抵达的人往往更容易获得特定的临时或人道主义途径以获得移民救济。例如，政治庇护申请必须在初次入境后一年内提交。“律师需要举报这种情况，”里维拉说。“我们不能依赖那些正处于驱逐程序中、面临诸多困扰的社区成员向州律师协会举报。”加利福尼亚州 (加州) 律师协会表示，所有寻求法律代理的移民应确保任何律师的联系信息与该协会网站上的信息一致。移民在聘请任何人之前，还应要求面对面咨询并提供有效的办公地址。对于玛莎 (Martha) 来说，也许最糟糕的行为是
移民顾问：他反而代表她提交了一起政治庇护申请，而她并不符合条件，也不想要这种申请。一份无效的申请可能会导致遣返程序。“他拿走了我们的钱，给我们留下了这个巨大的烂摊子，”玛莎说道，“现在，我一直处于恐惧之中，担心我会收到那个我并不想要的庇护案件的移民局约谈通知。”州律师协会只能对持有加利福尼亚州 (加州) 执照的律师采取纪律处分，但对冒充者没有权力。它只能发送 ceaseperity，该公司已花费 $935,000 来推广“投赞成票”的活动。在反堕胎组织的网站上，一名工作人员在社论中提到 Rescue。22 个州选举最高法院的法官，其中 8 个州采用政党竞争选举。26 个州的州长任命法官。在南卡罗来纳州和弗吉尼亚州，由立法者挑选大法官。与此同时，全国和各州的附属机构
堕胎供应商计划生育协会 (Planned Parenthood) 为“投反对票”活动 $800 万plus 的支出贡献了 $1.6。杰米·斯旺 (Jamie Swan) 是一名工程师和大学助教，她曾在 2022 年为堕胎权挨家挨户地宣传，现在她正尝试通过同样的方式来阻止这项提案。“这纯粹是为了夺权，”她说。堪萨斯州在选民于 1958 年修改州宪法之前，已经实行法官选举制度近 100 年。现在由州长从提名委员会（由律师控制）指定的三名最终候选人中挑选一名。立法者不参与其中。立法者在任命中没有发言权。对每个州当前和过去的宪法审查显示，最后一个增加类似堪萨斯州正在考虑的修正案的州是 1914 年的密西西比州。此后，18 个州的修正案走向了反面。堪萨斯州该提案的支持者们对“选举法官将使富有的捐赠者控制最高法院”的观点不屑一顾。
“在全球范围和历史上，即使不完美，最好的制度依然是民主，”主张低税收、小政府的组织 “Americans for Pros” 的州主任伊丽莎白·帕顿 (Elizabeth Patton) 说道。选民每六年通过“是或否”的投票问题来决定一名法官是否继续在职，但他们从未罢免过一名在任法官。保守派认为这意味着法官对其决定无需承担后果。法官的退休和去世让凯利能够任命目前四名法官。最近，州长挑选了一名地区法院法官，该法官在 2023 年阻止了长期堕胎限制令的执行。报告显示有 4,100 多个确诊病例，目前正在调查 41 个州内其他 7,400 多个可能的病例。
“我们没有好的反击手段，”支持该措施的堪萨斯城地区共和党州参议员迈克·汤普森 (Mike Thompson) 说道。联邦卫生官员表示，随着调查的继续，其他“品牌、餐厅、零售商或分销渠道”可能也与此次爆发有关。汉娜 (Hanna) 为美联社撰稿。
[儿童照护，接 A1 页] 已经完全接管了圣何塞 (San José) 和瓦列霍 (Vallejo) 的两个校园。另一个预计很快将在东帕洛阿尔托 (East Palo Alto) 的一个空置校园开放。在现有学校场地内运营的非营利组织也在继续扩张。一家总部位于圣盖博谷 (San Gabriel Valley) 的组织多年来将其日托计划扩展到 100 多所小学，最近又开设了三个教室，并将随着学区需求的信号而继续增长。洛杉矶统一学区 (Los Angeles Unified) —— 在面对入学人数下降和财政困境可能导致学校关闭的情况下 —— 准备通过最近批准的计划来扩大这一趋势，该计划旨在通过与当地儿童照护组织合作来扩大早期教育版图，并希望通过提供难以寻找的婴儿和幼儿照护来吸引家庭。“学区获得了更多孩子，[并且] 社区基础的学前班保留了其服务，”
加州大学伯克利分校名誉教授布鲁斯·富勒 (Bruce Fuller) 表示：“这可以是一个双赢局面。”在阿尔罕布拉统一学区 (Alhambra Unified School District) 的帕克小学 (Park Elementary School) 的一个角落里，操场上响起了 3 岁和 4 岁孩子的尖叫声。学前儿童在草地上奔跑，他们的活动区域由一道银色链条围栏与校园其他部分隔开。——有些成本可能高达 $500,000 ——而其他校园则因为入学人数减少而提供空房间，租金通常高达 $300。每间教室的每月运营成本为 $27,000，包括教师工资、水电费和保险。它们属于 Options for Learning 运行的一个项目，该机构在圣盖博谷 (San Gabriel Valley) 以及洛杉矶县其他地区的 160 多所学校中运营婴儿、幼儿和学前班教室。在学校校园内开设早期学习教室，还为年轻家庭提供了护理的连续性，让他们能够建立起一种社区感。
“那是最好的模式，对吧？”Options for Learning 的首席项目官特雷西·林奇 (Tracy Lynch) 说道，“当我们让各行各业的人在同一个环境下共同学习和成长时。”对于这家在多年前就开创这一理念的非营利组织来说，了解社区需求至关重要，其 19 个学区合作伙伴的项目内容差异很大。一些中心接收学前儿童；另一些也接收幼儿。针对过渡幼儿园或小学学生的课后项目对于社区而言也可能很重要。富勒表示，学区学习如何照顾更年幼儿童的能力，有助于在家庭选择 4 岁孩子就读地点时，缓解部分“负面的竞争紧张局势”。虽然将一间教室——或整个校园——改造为日托场所可能是一个昂贵且复杂的過程，
非营利组织 某些学校要求该组织安装便携式教室 马克·希费尔拜因 (Mark Schiefelbein) 美联社
特朗普计划访问洛杉矶，议程中包含对纽森的抨击 特朗普总统在 2025. 年的野火之后会见了州长加文·纽森 (Gavin Newsom)。
白宫发言人奥利维亚·威尔士 (Olivia Wales) 周一在的一份声明中表示，“……以及杀人犯”，
作者：安娜·塞巴洛斯 (Ana Ceballos) 华盛顿 —— 一位白宫官员确认，特朗普总统将于周二前往洛杉矶，周三前往拉斯维加斯，此次为期两天的西海岸行程旨在中期选举前突出其政府的经济记录。威尔士表示，预计特朗普将“宣扬他为金州人民赢得的胜利，尽管民主党领导层失败了”，并引用了她所描述的“史上最大规模的中产阶级减税、美国历史上最安全的边境以及骤降的犯罪率”。在洛杉矶，特朗普计划在特朗普国家高尔夫俱乐部参加共和党全国委员会的晚宴。此次访问正值政府寻求让人们关注其经济政策之际，而其政府在 11 月选举前缓解经济压力的时间已经不多了。
纽森尚未公开评论特朗普在加利福尼亚州 (加州) 的短暂停留，但这位民主党州长在最近的社交媒体帖子中批评了特朗普处理经济的方式。在 X 平台的一篇帖子中，纽森指出，加利福尼亚州 (加州) 明年将把最低工资提高到每小时 $17.40，以此攻击特朗普和共和党，指责他们“在工人勉强生存的同时，却在捍卫 $7.25 的最低工资”。
“总统将把他的常识议程与加文·纽森等民主党人的激进政策形成鲜明对比，后者不断提高税收，诱使纳税人资助的计划中出现猖獗的欺诈，并保护非法移民毒品……”
交易商、强奸犯，“太可怜了，”州长写道。在第二条帖子中，纽森转发了 X 上的一个帖子，展示了自年初以来大米、棉花等商品的价格是如何上涨的。“干得好，@realdonaldtrump，”他写道。特朗普访问洛杉矶将是他重返办公室后的第二次。在 2025 年 1 月，由于洛杉矶的太平洋帕利塞德（Pacific Palisades）社区和阿尔塔迪纳（Altadena）被山火摧毁，他巡视了该地区。在访问期间，特朗普签署了一项旨在加快重建工作的行政命令。
LATIMES.COM 星期二，2026 年 8 月 4 日 A7 空置的公立学校被改编为幼儿中心 一名戴着听诊器的女孩在阿尔罕布拉（Alhambra）公园小学校园的一所幼儿园里检查一只玩具狗。
……正在努力筹集资金，同时依赖州和联邦资金来资助席位和一些必要的翻修。中心主任 Yesenia Rivas Berajano 说道。非营利组织 Kidango 的首席执行官 Scott Moore 表示，关于社区需求与可用空间的讨论促使 Kidango 尝试基于公立学校的方案。教室必须符合州许可要求，并配备低水槽、小厕所、额外的台面空间以及至少两个出口——而 K-12 教室仅需要一个。而且，每个年龄组都需要适当的户外活动区域。
设有 Kidango 早期学习校园的 Alum Rock 和 Berryessa 联合学区都在与学生人数下降作斗争。Alum Rock 联合学区的在校生人数不足 2003 年初高峰时期的的一半，且 2024-25 学年 $20 million (2024-25) 的预算缺口导致了多所学校的关闭和合并。Berryessa 联合学区在过去十年中失去了近四分之一的学生，留下了 $6 million 的预算赤字。
六个月以来，Kidango 的工作人员致力于翻修圣何塞（San José）的 Toyon 早期学习中心，以便在 3 月启动首批教室。随着校园逐步更新更多教室，翻修工作仍在继续。在 Toyon，地毯被地毯垫和易于清洁的亚麻油地毯所取代。单杠被感官桌和泥巴厨房取代。该非营利组织目前运营 8 个教室，预计在 8 月初达到饱和状态，服务 150 名儿童。目标是最终扩展到 13 个教室。
Kidango 于 2003 年开始迁入 Alum Rock 联合学区，随后于 2025 年迁入 Berryessa 联合学区，之后接管了这两个学区的整个校园。“最难以负担的事情之一就是幼儿的照护，”Moore 说道。
作者：Geoff Mulvihill 马萨诸塞州正致力于让医生在决定怀孕晚期是否允许堕胎时拥有最终决定权。此举预计影响的案例较少，但支持者表示这是必要的，因为医院目前正在拒绝接收本应为其提供服务的女性。州参议院周五通过了该措施，将其提交给民主党州长 Maura Healey，她此前已签署过其他加强堕胎权的法律。根据马萨诸塞州现行法律，怀孕前 24 周堕胎合法。在此之后，仅当医生根据最佳医疗判断认为，由于致命的胎儿畸形或诊断，或者胎儿可能无法在子宫外生存，为了维护女性的生命、身体或心理健康而有必要进行时，才允许堕胎。
州代表 Christine Barber 表示，在该框架下，医院拒绝了一些怀孕晚期的女性堕胎，即使在胎儿发生中风且被判定为不可能存活的情况下也是如此。自从特朗普上次访问这座城市以来，一直处于僵持状态……
加利福尼亚州 (加州) 领导人与特朗普政府之间关于联邦灾难援助的磋商。4月，洛杉矶市长卡伦·巴斯 (Karen Bass) 和县主管凯瑟琳·巴格 (Kathryn Barger) 在椭圆形办公室与特朗普会面，讨论他们为协助山火恢复工作而提出的资金请求，特朗普暗示支持该请求，但尚未正式落实。在访问加利福尼亚州 (加州) 后，特朗普将前往内华达州，在红岩赌场 (Red Rock Casino) 发表关于经济的演说。接管了瓦列霍市统一学区 (Vallejo City Unified) 的比弗利山小学 (Beverly Hills Elementary) 后，非营利组织 Child Start Inc.、First 5 索拉诺县 (Solano) 以及索拉诺县 (Solano) 教育办公室共同运营一个集中的幼儿照顾中心，其中部分教室由之前的家庭托儿服务提供者运营，而 Head Start 和 Early Head Start 课程则由 Child Start Inc. 运营。据 Child Start Inc. 执行主任胡安·希斯内罗斯 (Juan Cisneros) 称，自4月以来开放的8间教室中约有 100 名学生入学。
还有 7 间教室待开放，随着最后几家服务提供者的许可审批完成，可能会在 8 月下旬准备就绪。每位提供者与拥有学校校园的 Child Start Inc. 签署了一份为期 5 年的谅解备忘录。他们根据所运营的教室数量支付各自的分摊运营成本，每月费用为 $2,612，包括维护、保洁服务、水电费和其他间接成本。希斯内罗斯表示，这种设置使他们节省了大约一半的总成本。Robert Gauthier，洛杉矶时报 (Los Angeles Times)。Rise Vallejo 的启动最终花费了 $20 million，包括场地的购买和翻新。他补充说，增加更多名额使家庭能够留在圣何塞 (San José) 等成本高昂的地区，而在这些地区，幼儿照顾资源可能非常匮乏。
获取场地并开始开放教室大约花了 3 年时间。根据加州大学伯克利分校 (UC Berkeley) 的研究，自 2021, 年以来，加利福尼亚州 (加州) 约有 1,100 所社区预备学校关闭。其中 500 所在洛杉矶县。研究显示，过渡幼儿园的增长分流了更多利润丰厚的 4 岁儿童——因为婴儿和幼儿需要更高的员工配比和更密集的照顾——这使得更多中心面临关闭风险。瓦列霍市统一学区董事会信托员约翰·福克斯 (John Fox) 表示，学区很高兴看到原学校校园被重新用于早期教育，提供了一项急需的服务。合作伙伴依赖联邦、州和市的资金及拨款，并在 First 5 索拉诺县 (Solano) 的主导下寻求私人捐款。“我们绝不接受拒绝，因为我们对此深信不疑，”First 5 索拉诺县 (Solano) 委员会主席利塞特·埃斯特雷拉-亨德森 (Lisette Estrella-Henderson) 说道。
即便在目前的转型过程中，仍没有足够的托儿名额来照顾所有有需要的幼儿和婴儿。根据富勒 (Fuller) 的研究，在加利福尼亚州 (加州)，抚养 3 岁孩子的父母中，不超过三分之一能在任何形式的预备学校中找到空余名额。在更年幼的孩子中，资源更加匮乏。本文是《时报》早期儿童教育计划的一部分，重点关注加利福尼亚州 (加州) 儿童从出生到 5 岁期间的学习与发展。欲了解有关该计划及其慈善资助者的更多信息，请访问 latimes.com / earlyed。在 Rise Vallejo，马萨诸塞州的医生在女性意识到自己怀孕之前，可以在后期堕胎问题上拥有最终决定权。新法将取消具体的理由清单，仅简单规定允许“基于医生的专业判断”进行。几个由民主党控制的州已经
向相反方向移动，增加了旨在保护医疗提供者免于因向其他州的患者提供堕胎服务而被起诉的法律。反对者表示，这将允许在出生前进行堕胎——甚至针对健康的胎儿——且后期的堕胎对女性而言更为复杂且风险更高。马萨诸塞州是采取最激进措施的州之一，其一项屏蔽法适用于通过远程医疗向堕胎禁令州女性开具堕胎药处方的人员。路易斯安那州和德克萨斯州的反堕胎官员正在测试这些保护措施。“虽然这项立法优先考虑了获得服务的机会，但它并未优先考虑女性的安全，”马萨诸塞州生命公民协会 (Massachusetts Citizens for Life) 主席 Myrna Maloney Flynn 在一段敦促支持者要求立法者否决该法案的视频中说道。今年通过的大多数与堕胎相关的州法律并未在何时或如何允许堕胎方面做出重大改变。
如果希利 (Healey) 签署该法案，这项法律将成为美国堕胎格局的最新变化。四年前，最高法院的一项裁决推翻了“罗诉韦德案” (Roe vs. Wade)，允许各州执行堕胎禁令，从而给该格局带来了冲击。例如，科罗拉多州的一项新法律要求设有学生健康中心的大学从 2027 年 8 月起为学生提供堕胎药。声明此举与其宗教信仰相冲突的私立学校将被豁免。一些学校在等待获准执行期间就已经在账面上制定了禁令，而其他学校则在裁决后采用了禁令或限制措施。俄克拉荷马州的一项新法律规定，为了给他人提供非法堕胎而购买或销售这些药丸属于重罪。目前，有 13 个州在怀孕的所有阶段执行禁令（除部分例外情况外）。另有四个州在怀孕约六周后禁止堕胎——这通常是 Mulvihill 为美联社撰写的。Mary Schwalm 美联社。鲜花点缀在波士顿马萨诸塞州议会大厦前的草坪上。
作者：Francesca Pinney
在这个训练营中，退伍军人们于今年夏天在加州理工学院集结，在教职员工、研究人员和导师的引导下模拟期末考试周的高强度环境，参加一项帮助他们评估自己是否准备好向学术界过渡的项目。
“战士-学者项目”（Warrior-Scholar Project）是一个 STEM 强化项目，于 2012 年在耶鲁大学创立，已服务近 3,000 名退伍军人，通过高达 75 小时的学术工作挑战他们。该项目在加州理工学院已开展七年。
参与者在三种类型的课程中进行选择：STEM、商业基础和人文课程。最受欢迎的是 STEM 轨道——科学、技术、工程和数学。
“其理念是通过在加州理工学院参加 WSP，让他们意识到‘我具备在这些顶尖机构就读的潜质’，”该非营利组织的首席执行官、前海军陆战队中士 Ryan Pavel 表示。“如果我想在加州理工学院或麻省理工学院追求学术，那么现在有了路径。”
Pavel 表示，该项目约 80% 的参与者最终获得了学位。其中超过一半是第一代大学生。
“这是一个非常值得积极招募的群体，因为这里拥有专业人才，”Pavel 说道。
全美多所大学承办此类训练营，包括麻省理工学院、斯坦福大学、普林斯顿大学、耶鲁大学、哈佛大学、哥伦比亚大学、圣母大学和南加州大学 (USC)。该项目对参与者免费，由一系列地方和国家基金会、企业及个人捐赠者资助。
“仅仅身处校园这种去神秘化的体验，就能帮助他们建立在 STEM 课程中真正脱颖而出的技能，”Pavel 说。“我们致力于确保退伍军人们了解自己的能力，而这完全可以包括在精英机构接受教育。”
加州理工学院的训练营从上午 8:30 的物理与运动课开始，随后是诸如实验室后台参观或科学展览等活动，最后以严苛的习题集结束。学生们在一天结束时很难完成这些习题，而一天通常会延长到晚上 10 或 11 点。
“我们希望他们在这里挑战自己的极限，这样他们可以在进入大学前发现需要改进的地方，”项目研究员、助教及前参与者 Joshua Saint Juste 说道。
Saint Juste 今年 20 岁，将于秋季进入肯尼索州立大学就读。他表示，这个训练营营造了一个让学生在面对失败时感到自在的环境。
他说，该项目“向你展示你的优势和劣势，以及你想要如何弥补不足、增强实力，从而为大学做好准备”。
通过一项小组研究项目，学生有机会与在校园内从事研究的研究人员、博士候选人和教授合作，并将他们的研究结果向同行和教授展示。
“我当时与一位天体物理学家合作，我们测量不同星系之间恒星的距离……我初步体会到了天体物理学是什么样的，”23 岁的 Diego Maldonado 说道，他是一名曾经的参与者，目前是项目研究员，将于秋季进入阿默斯特学院就读。
大多数参与者已经获得了大学录取通知书，但许多人已经离开学校一段时间了。许多人即使已经收到录取信，也会选择推迟大学入学，先进入现役服役。
“每个人的旅程都各不相同。我们在这里想要做的是为他们提供装备，这样当他们真正加入时，就已经准备好了，”圣朱斯特 (Saint Juste) 表示。
“战士学者项目”(Warrior-Scholar Project) 的研究员们教授大学准备课程，以帮助激发信心。
“令人欣慰的是，并不是每个人都已经完全想清楚了，”参与者伊格纳西奥·莫拉 (Ignacio Mora) 说道。“我们非常支持彼此。”
“退伍军人之间有一种紧密的社区纽带，但当你能够在全国范围内维持这些联系时，这让我们觉得自己属于这些顶尖的学术社区，”马尔多纳多 (Maldonado) 补充道。
教授们渴望与退伍军人学生合作，并认为退伍军人带入课堂的生活经验对于像加州理工学院 (Caltech) 这样机构的知识多样性至关重要。
“我假设他们遇到过比在教室里大得多的挑战，因此他们对待学习的态度非常健康，并且愿意钻研教材。这让与他们共事变得非常有意思，”加州理工学院 LIGO 实验室的工作科学家乔纳·坎纳 (Jonah Kanner) 表示。LIGO 实验室是一个大型研究设施，与麻省理工学院 (MIT) 合作研究引力波天体物理学。
“在军队中生活是非常紧张的，但我们在军队中培养的许多技能在学术领域也能发挥作用……我还想说，在服役之后，我们绝对会更加互相支持，”莫拉说道。
[图注] 退伍军人瑞安·凯利 (Ryan Kelly) 参加 2025 年加州理工学院训练营的课堂课程。
作者：Philip Marcelo
由于州教育官员、教师和当地居民提出担忧（包括该制造商与一家生产逼真成人机器人公司的关联），纽约州北部一个农村地区的学区决定暂停在课堂上部署 AI 驱动的类人机器人的计划。
纽约——由于州教育官员、教师和当地居民提出担忧（包括该制造商与一家生产逼真成人娃娃公司的关联），纽约州北部一个农村地区的学区决定暂停在课堂上部署 AI 驱动的类人机器人的计划。
根据该学区上月底在 Facebook 上发布的一份声明，目前该机器人试点计划仍处于暂停状态，因为该学区正与州教育官员就“强化的学生数据隐私协议”进行磋商，并继续开展社区外联工作。
萨拉曼卡市中央学区 (Salamanca City Central School District) 董事会批准了从 Realbotix 公司购买该机器人的计划，金额近 $60,000。该学区愿景是让这个绰号为“Sally”的长黑发固定式机器人，能够增强学习机器人和技术领域的高中生的教育水平。
州官员与教师表示担忧 州教育专员贝蒂·罗莎 (Betty Rosa) 表示，即便在她的工作人员与学区官员会面后，她仍然对该机器人在课堂中的角色感到担忧。
“在对 Arduino 板进行编程时遇到困难？甚至不知道 Arduino 板是什么？问问 Sally，她可以解释清楚，”学区主管马克·比勒 (Mark Beehler) 说道。“该机器人还为学生提供了学习如何维护机器人、如何使用经过批准的新内容进行更新以及如何排除故障的机会。”
“尽管您确认该机器人在提供课堂教学方面不承担任何角色，但最近向董事会提交的一份演示报告将该机器人描述为‘辅导平台’，”罗莎在致学区的一封信中写道。
但随着消息在位于塞内卡印第安民族 (Seneca Nation of Indians) 保留地的这个小社区中传开，家长和教师担心学生的个人信息将被如何使用。工会教师将矛头指向 Realbotix 的成人娃娃关联公司，尽管学区官员和公司本身强调两家制造商独立运营。
官员们表示，这将有助于教授孩子们技术，但心存顾虑的家长和教师并不确定。
“由一家与成人娃娃相关的公司制造的机器人，绝不应该出现在我们的课堂中，”纽约州联合教师工会 (New York State United Teachers) 主席梅琳达·珀森 (Melinda Person) 表示。
学区官员为购买机器人辩护 比勒强调，这次试点计划还包括推出一个虚拟的 AI 驱动教师助手和居家辅导计划，其目的并非为了取代员工。
萨拉曼卡学校在社交媒体帖子中强调，“Sally”不会收集学生的个人信息，不会录制其互动的音频或视频，也不会将数据发送给 Realbotix。
“机器人绝无可能在学校中取代人类，”他说。“即便有可能，这也绝对不符合学生的最佳利益。”
去年，圣地亚哥的一所特许学校花费 $500,000 从一家总部位于英国的机器人公司 Engineered Arts 购买并部署了两台 AI 驱动的机器人。
比勒认为，对于像萨拉曼卡这样位于宾夕法尼亚州界附近阿勒格尼河沿岸的偏远学区来说，寻找将前沿产品引入课堂的新方法至关重要。
“在大多数情况下，我们的学生需要旅行 1-2 小时才有机会看到新兴技术，”他说。“引入机器人的目的之一是帮助公平竞争，并激励学生继续学习机器人、人工智能以及 STEAM 相关的职业路径。”
机器人制造商回应批评 Realbotix 表示，学生身份验证将通过学区现有的系统处理，所有与学生相关的信息将保持加密并由学区控制。该公司还反驳了关于 “Sally” 仅仅是重新利用的成人娃娃的说法，称其为一个“新制造的、专门构建的教育单元”，且没有经过硬件改装。
部分居民仍持谨慎态度 该机器人还被编程为避开性、暴力和赌博等不恰当的话题，且无法搜索互联网或从未经审核的生成式人工智能服务中获取答案。
学区表示，相反，所有关于 “Sally” 的信息都将存储在本地，该机器人的能耗与一台笔记本电脑大致相当。
然而，一些萨拉曼卡 (Salamanca) 的居民仍不信服。
Joplin Ficek 2024 年毕业于萨拉曼卡高中，目前在一家日托中心工作，她认为没有理由让机器人或人工智能在她的母校中扮演如此重要的角色。
“他们只需要雇佣更多愿意为孩子们付出努力的人，”Ficek 说。“孩子们需要更多与人的互动，而不是让某个机器人来抚养我们的孩子。”
该学校的机器人来自 Realbotix LLC，该公司专注于医疗保健、教育和其他商业应用。其姐妹公司 Intima LLC 持有 RealDoll 的所有权份额，后者是一家资深的成人娃娃制造商，其中包括一系列被宣传为“世界上最先进的性爱机器人”的 AI 驱动模型。
“Realbotix LLC 和 Intima LLC 的产品线不同，没有交叉，”该公司在一份声明中表示。“这两家子公司维持各自的管理、人员、工资单、设施、制造运营、产品开发和市场策略。”
Marcelo 为美联社 (Associated Press) 撰稿。
[图注] 2025 年一场科技展会上，由 Realbotix 制造的人形机器人（该公司为该学区提供了一台）。
[图注] 大约 80% 的项目参与者获得了学位。上方为 2025 年训练营上的退伍军人。
教师们担心学生的个人信息将被如何使用。工会教师将矛头指向 Realbotix 的成人娃娃姐妹公司，尽管学区官员和公司本身强调这两家制造商是独立运营的。
血肉之躯的教育者。“Sally” 能够移动手臂和双手，但不能移动腿部。
被编程有 WozEd，这是由苹果公司共同创始人 Steve Wozniak 开发的一套课程，该学区正在使用。
机器人技术、AI 和 STEAM 相关职业路径。”
IPO 之后，可持续零售商 Reformation 成为巨头。它也面临着新挑战。作者：Annika Duneja。最初在 La Brea 大道上的一家小型定制古着店，如今已发展成为一家价值数十亿美元的公司。女装公司 Reformation 以其可持续发展使命和口号而闻名：“裸体是最可持续的选项（第 1 位）。我们排第 2 位。” 十多年来，这家公司的衣服一直出现在 Taylor Swift 和 Hailey Bieber 等名人的肩上，但直到上周 Reformation 才在股市上市。随着周一中午股价上涨，其市值攀升至 9.5 亿美元 ($950 million) 以上。这是一个令人惊叹的崛起，从在洛杉矶 (Los Angeles) 进行管理和制造开始，扩展到 70 个门店，主要分布在美国，其中加利福尼亚州 (加州) 有 13 家，并在加拿大、法国和美国设有店面。
Kingdom。它计划利用筹集的资金每年开设 12 到 14 家门店。2013, Aflalo 开始在进行裁剪的同时设计并制造服装，并开始通过网站销售。Reformation 同年在洛杉矶开设了一家工厂。当时，该公司最以连衣裙闻名，但在接下来的几年里，它扩大了服装产品线。“我们仍处于起步阶段，”Reformation 首席执行官 Hali Borenstein 在一次 CNBC 采访中表示。“我们在核心市场的渗透率不足 1%，因此你们将看到我们的更多动作。”2019, Reformation 在多伦多和伦敦开设了首批国际门店，当时它与私募股权公司 Permira 合作以进一步扩大规模。Aflalo 继续领导该公司直到 2020, 随后 Borenstein 接任首席执行官。尽管如此，一些消费者和分析师担心，过度增长可能会损害品牌及其闻名的质量和可持续性。在其网站上，该公司将 Tencel、回收棉和死库存面料列为满足其可持续性标准的一些首选材料。它还讨论了如采用限量系列等实践，以维持环保标签。“在某个时间点，我觉得 Reformation 试图增长得太快，而这就是他们忽视质量的地方，”消费者洞察公司 Consumer Collective 的联合创始人 Jessica Ramirez 表示。“我不希望在他们上市后出现同样的压力，因为这往往就是结果。”它找到了一个时尚消费者的利基市场，这些人想要能够穿去参加婚礼的前卫服装，同时又希望这种服装经久耐用，且比大规模生产的产品对环境更友好。这家服装公司由加利福尼亚州 (加州) 原住民 Yael Aflalo 于 2009. 创立。起初 Aflalo 在一家商店的后方定制古着服装并进行销售，随后转而使用可持续材料生产自己的服装。“他们是一个不像‘土豆袋’的可持续服装品牌，”Ramirez 说道。“很长一段时间里，这确实……”
特朗普政府和日本财务大臣确认双方均干预了市场。作者：Mayuko Ono 和 Elaine Kurtenbach。周一，在总统特朗普和日本财务大臣确认双方已干预市场后，美元兑日元汇率大幅下跌。在截至上周晚些时候之前，美元交易价格在 163 日元以上，触及 40 年高点。在监管机构被怀疑介入后，汇率跌至 160 日元以下。周一，在干预措施正式公布后，美元在美国交易时段跌至 157 日元左右。尽管日元贬值吸引了数百万追求廉价购物的游客，但日元兑美元的长期疲软一直是东京感到沮丧的根源。由于日本进口了大量消费品，货币贬值推高了价格。高油价放大了这一问题，这使得日本首相高市早苗 (Sanae Takaichi) 政府面临采取更多措施应对生活成本上涨的压力。美国和日本的利率差异导致投资者抛售日元并购买美元，以利用美元计价资产的更高收益。日本银行和美联储在执行上周的会议时均维持利率不变，维持了这一差距。因此，上周当美元跌破 160 日元并维持在该水平时，人们怀疑美国方面提供了帮助。
需要共同干预 官员通常对此类行动保持沉默。但在周日，特朗普
确认了美国方面提供了帮助，日本财务大臣片山五月同样发表声明称，财务省已与美国财政部协调购买日元。今年早些时候旨在提升日元兑美元汇率的努力并未能显著改变汇率。通常情况下，外汇市场决定货币的相对价值，但影响市场走向的因素很多。
LATIMES.COM 星期二，2026年8月4日 A9 商业
从精品店到十亿美元公司 REFORMATION 起步于洛杉矶，目前在美国及海外设有 70 家门店。上图为圣地亚哥的一家门店。
我们所拥有的：可持续的产品，而且它并不好看。”“看看 Birkenstock。它一直不是一家糟糕的公司，但周围总有许多疑问，”Ramirez 说道。“On Running 的年增长率前所未有，但每当财报公布时，其股价依然会大跌。”
该品牌强调，其单品旨在即使在频繁使用的情况下也能经久耐用，而不是被随手丢弃。一名 Reformation 的粉丝曾在《纽约客》中写道，该品牌可持续的极简主义连衣裙因找到了合适的定价点而拥有了一批狂热追随者，“价格大多在三位数低端——刚好模糊了那些认为 218 美元的连体裤是实惠基础款的人，与那些认为这是不切实际的挥霍之举的人之间的界限。”
Reformation 过去曾面临增长过快的担忧。几年前，随着该品牌开始迅速开设更多门店并推出包袋、鞋类等新产品，它开始面临质量下降的批评。一些粉丝表示，他们在那时就注意到了质量的下滑。
加州大学洛杉矶分校 (UCLA) 的商业教授 Felipe Caro 表示，他对 Reformation 在上市后能否维持其可持续形象持怀疑态度，而这种形象正是该品牌受欢迎的一部分。他表示，投资者可能必须在规模上做出妥协，以便该品牌能继续在现有的客户群中获得成功。尽管它在自己的舒适区表现良好，但它可能会面临许多热门品牌在努力突破核心粉丝群并保持影响力时所遇到的阻力。
分析师表示，Reformation 试图将自己定位在其他千禧一代品牌之外，但服装市场的周期性使得这一类别很难推销。“我不认为它们能成长到 H&M 或优衣库 (Uniqlo) 那样的规模，”Caro 说道。“但这并不意味着必须这样做。鉴于它们的定价较高，它们可能能够在不需要达到快时尚服装公司那样的数据规模的情况下，依然保持非常健康的财务状况。”包括 Allbirds 在内的服装公司（Allbirds 在上市后已转型）在首次公开募股后的热度消退后，往往在股市中举步维艰。
美元兑日元大幅下跌 Eugene Hoshiko 美联社 一名男子走过一块显示美元和日元汇率的电子显示屏。
对于日本来说。除了珍珠港事件，日本一直对我们非常好。”“我们将毫不犹豫地采取进一步的联合干预，”她说道。
Astris Advisory Japan 的董事总经理兼战略主管 Neil Newman 表示，如此公开承认市场干预的情况十分罕见。他表示，上一个重大例子是 2011 年日本东北部发生特大地震和海啸灾难后，各国政府采取的干预措施。特朗普表示，美国从这次干预中获得了“财务利益”，称其为一种“信号”。
“友谊。”他表示：“这对世界经济也有好处。”纽曼（Newman）说，美元走弱会使美国制造的商品更具竞争力，降低其以日元计算的成本，并可能有助于增加美国对日本的出口。
关于美国为何提供援助，纽曼说：“美国人与日本人在这方面合作非常罕见，但目前日本和美国之间基本上存在利益一致。”
当被问及华盛顿为何提供帮助时，特朗普周日表示：“我们与日本关系良好。我们的财务状况非常强——非常、非常强——而他们，你知道，他们的日元在贬值，他们想要一点帮助，而我们一直就在那里。”
对于华盛顿来说，这是一种“低成本”的方式来回报一个关键的美国盟友，同时还能保护外汇和债券的稳定。
Redlands电台的播音员被解雇，KCAL-FM的纯音乐模式成为内陆帝国（Inland Empire）今夏第二个放弃主持人的人员配置媒体。
作者：Cerys Davies
上周末，位于Redlands的KCAL-FM 96.7广播电台在上周解雇所有主持人并转型为“全天候纯音乐”经典摇滚模式后，开始播放无需播音员的音乐。
Natallie Rocha，圣迭戈联合论坛报 (San Diego Union-Tribune)
该电台工作人员在社交媒体上写道：“96.7 KCAL Rocks 今天翻开了新篇章。感谢每一位听众，是你们成就了上一章的内容。”“经典摇滚。除了音乐什么都没有。全天覆盖内陆帝国。”
品牌。”它可能还会在可持续发展目标与股东要求降低成本的压力之间难以取得平衡。
拉米雷斯（Ramirez）表示，Reformation可能会在投资者理解该品牌以及直接面向消费者（DTC）品牌的不确定性方面遇到一些困难。
该电台的资深电台主持人、兼职人员和周末顶替人员全部被解雇，包括在电台工作了 42 年的达里尔·诺塞尔（Daryl Norsell）、表示在那里工作了 15 年的帕特里克·蒂什（Patrick Tish）以及尼基·普雷斯顿（Nikki Preston）。
担任过去六年晚间主持人兼节目总监的约翰·德桑蒂斯（John DeSantis）在社交媒体上确认了裁员消息。
卡罗（Caro）说：“当你是一家私营公司时，你可以直接说‘我想这样做’，并且可能会为了实现其他被认为重要的事情而放弃一点利润。”“他们会直接说我们只关心利润，忘记可持续发展的部分吗？那可能会毁掉品牌。”
德桑蒂斯写道：“他们将转向自动化、无需人工的模式。说这令人震惊已经是轻描淡写了。我有很多事情需要消化，很快会透露更多消息。”“但目前，我只想感谢你们让我成为 KCAL 家族的一员。这是一个实现了的广播梦。你们永远是最酷的。”
Reformation 表示，其潜在客户群仅被开发了表面。现在它拥有充足的资金去争取更多类型的消费者。
波伦斯坦（Borenstein）表示，由于吸引的客户群体广泛，该公司没有感受到零售业其他部分所面临的同样压力。
该电台自 1965. 年首次开播以来一直服务于内陆帝国。KCAL 由 Anaheim Broadcasting Corp. 拥有，该公司还经营该地区的经典热门电台 KOLA 99.9 FM。
据 Anaheim Broadcasting 称，这两家电台在里弗赛德-圣贝纳迪诺（Riverside-San Bernardino）市场的每周听众人数合计超过 800,000 人。该公司未能就裁员一事发表评论。
“我们的活跃客户数量非常强劲，因此我们对全年继续执行的能力非常有信心，即便在如此动态的环境下。”
“在该领域运营。” “我们围绕听众成长过程中接触的音乐，以及定义经典摇滚的歌曲和艺术家，重新打造了 KCAL，” 安纳海姆广播公司 (Anaheim Broadcasting Corp.) 首席运营官凯莉·桑德斯 (Kelly Sanders) 在给南加州新闻组 (Southern California News Group) 的一份新闻稿中表示。 “KCAL 将提供专注且一致的收听体验，对我们的受众和广告合作伙伴都具有更广泛的吸引力。” 牛津经济研究中心 (Oxford Economics) 日本经济负责人永井茂人 (Shigeto Nagai) 在一份报告中提到市场。
日元可能走强路径 永井表示，最近的一次干预似乎比今年早些时候的情况产生了更持久的效果，日元在今年余下时间里可能会走一条稍微强劲的路径。该新闻稿还指出，此次调整“扩大了电台的音乐关注范围，全天将减少中断并增加音乐时长”，但据《橙县登记报》(OC Register) 报道，稿件并未提及裁员问题。
但导致日元长期疲软的因素依然存在。高市早苗曾推动将日本食品销售税从 8% 降低至 1%，并大幅增加政府支出。此类举措往往会削弱日元，因为这会增加通货膨胀并加重日本本已沉重的政府债务。
这是今年夏天内陆帝国 (Inland Empire) 广播界遭受的第二次重大打击。6月，总部位于里弗赛德 (Riverside) 的 KGGI-FM 最后一批当地在播主持人被裁掉，这是 iHeartMedia 最新一轮全国性裁员的一部分。在这家媒体巨头的一份内部备忘录中，公司表示此次裁员旨在重组其广播节目，以更好地“利用”公司的技术。
日本银行将基准利率从接近零缓慢提高到目前的 1%，这是 31 年来的最高水平，但仍远低于美联储 3.5% 至 3.75% 的利率。永井表示，由于需要评估伊朗战争及其他因素对经济的影响，日银在进行任何变动时可能仍将继续采取缓慢推进的策略。
史蒂夫·“拉兹”·布拉齐尔 (Steve “Razz” Brazill) 于 1987 年开始在 KCAL FM 工作，担任该台的驻场音乐会摄影师和电台主持人。在社交媒体的一篇帖子中，他称 KCAL 为他的“家”，并回忆起在红兰兹 (Redlands) 现已关闭的 Whiskey Creek 餐厅主持现场活动的时光。
与此同时，战争导致油价飙升并引发更高的通货膨胀，使美联储无法降息。SPI 资产管理公司的斯蒂芬·英内斯 (Stephen Innes) 在一篇评论中表示：“收益率差仍然很大，日本的能源进口负担依然沉重，且日本银行的行动速度仍慢于市场产生持续货币反转通常所需的速度。”
“KCAL 已成为我身份的一部分。我很高兴地说，我从来没有真正的‘同事’，我拥有的是朋友和家人，以及我将永远珍惜的回忆，” 布拉齐尔写道。 “今天，我们所有人与 KCAL 的缘分结束了，但那些关系不会。我会想念在工作室见到你们的日子，但我期待在现实生活中与你们相见。”
Ono 和 Kurtenbach 为美联社 (Associated Press) 撰稿。
作者：Milda Seputyte 与 Rafaela Lindeberg
托马斯·普兰滕加 (Thomas Plantenga) 毫不掩饰地表示，他一直在从全球各地的公司中“窃取”经验。作为欧洲最大的 C2C（消费者对消费者）时尚交易平台 Vinted 的首席执行官，他表示，他随意借鉴了这些公司的策略，构建了一个目前正在撼动该地区价值 5730 亿美元时尚产业的在线平台。
“我阅读了大量关于亚马逊 (Amazon)、MercadoLibre、Mercari 和 Costco 的商业报告，了解它们如何运作、做什么，我们选取了全球最优秀公司的元素，构建了一个前所未有的 C2C 交易市场，” 这位 42 岁、出生于荷兰的高管在立陶宛首都维尔纽斯市中心一座四层办公楼的 Vinted 总部接受采访时说道。
RBC 资本市场 (RBC Capital Markets) 的分析师在本月的一份报告中写道，同时也指出许多国际品牌正在抢占
以自有二手转售产品来减轻冲击。Vinted 的办公室位于距离旧城区仅几步之遥的区域，这里融合了由苏联时代工厂改造而成的时髦阁楼、创意中心以及圆滑的现代商务中心。在那个七月的日子里，Plantenga 穿着牛仔短裤和皮革穆勒鞋，坐在玻璃墙会议室里，显得轻松且不紧不慢，与周围的氛围相契合——许多来自 Vinted 欧洲办公室、为了参加年度夏季聚会而到此的员工们正坐在开放式茶水区，一边喝咖啡一边聊天。随着买卖二手衣服的禁忌逐渐消失，像 Paris Hilton、Paul Mescal 和 Chloe Sevigny 这样的名人公开谈论他们在此类平台上的销售情况。在热门播客“Table Manners”中，歌手 Suki Waterhouse 表示她就是这样购买古着衣服的。“我爱 Vinted，”她说。Vinted 成立于 2008 年，最初是一个个人买卖二手衣服的平台，它创造了一个如此强大的市场，以至于该平台及其一些竞争对手正在侵蚀时尚品牌和奢侈品屋的销售额。麦肯锡的《2026年时尚状况》报告称，由于精打细算的消费者在寻求廉价商品，从 2025 到 2027 年，二手市场的增长速度将比一手市场快两到三倍。麦肯锡引用 ThredUp 和 GlobalData 的数据估计，随着经济必要性和具有可持续意识的新一代减轻了二手衣服的污名，今年约 60% 的全球消费者可能会购买转售商品。在中国，这一数字更高，超过 70%，这主要由对价格实惠的高端和品牌商品的 demand 所推动。该咨询公司表示，全球二手服装市场预计到 2027, 年将达到 $317 亿，比去年增长 23%。这种规模以及“整个行业的风险在于，二手服装蚕食了新时尚产品的销售额”，分析——[保险，接 A1 页] 对已婚和未婚驾驶员收取相同的费用。加利福尼亚州个人保险联合会（Personal Insurance Federation of California）主席 Rex Frazier 表示，包括水星保险 (Mercury) 和其他大型汽车保险公司在内的该贸易团体认为，承保公司收取较高费率是有充分理由的：未婚人士更容易发生碰撞。“我一直认为婚姻与一个人更有可能拥有孩子相关，因此如果你车上有孩子，你会开车更安全，”他说。由于加利福尼亚州 (加州) 的保险公司被禁止在设定费率时考虑性别和年龄，这一人口统计特征也有助于锁定最容易发生事故的驾驶员：年轻男性驾驶员。在做出 7 月 16 日的裁决时，旧金山的第 1 上诉区小组认为，两项禁止基于婚姻状况歧视的州民权法必须服从 Proposition 103，即 1988 年通过的监管该州财产和意外保险业的投票措施。该提案授予保险专员权力，在保单持有者的驾驶记录、经验和年行驶里程这三个强制性评级因素之外，建立可预测损失索赔的可选汽车保险评级因素。在支持驾驶员的一份简报中提到，婚姻状况通过允许“不公正的人口统计特征来决定汽车保险价格”，从而使 Prop 103 “颠倒不向”。在 2-1 的多数意见书中引用的法律论点之一是，该州基石性的民权法案并未授予任何受法律限制的权利，在这种情况下，即选民通过的提案赋予保险专员建立非随意性可选评级因素的权力。“这就是为什么选民要求
他表示，该行业应遵守民权法，并根据一个人可以控制的因素来设定保费，例如他们的驾驶安全记录以及每年的行驶里程。目前只有少数几个州（包括马萨诸塞州和夏威夷州）禁止将婚姻状况作为评级因素。主审法官艾莉森·图彻（Alison Tucher）的一份异议书指出，多数派误读了该提案，她认为该提案必须遵守该州的民权法。允许考虑婚姻状况的规定自 1996 年起就一直存在，当时的保险专员查克·夸肯布什（Chuck Quackenbush）将其纳入了执行 103 号提案的条例中。103 号提案的作者哈维·罗森菲尔德（Harvey Rosenfield）所属的组织“消费者 watchdog”（Consumer Watchdog）提交了一份——
A10 周二，2026 年 8 月 4 日 LATIMES.COM 商业版
欧洲二手时尚之星 Vinted 计划进军美国 Nikos Pekiaridis NurPhoto
VINTED 强大的市场已经侵蚀了时装屋的销售额。该公司在投资者中拥有资本，并正准备进行近年来欧洲最大规模的技术型首次公开募股（IPO）之一。报告称，这些市场的技术使其达到了一个“拐点”，让他们能将数百万次交易转化为利润。尽管尚未决定顾问、时间或上市地点，但担任该平台董事的瑞典私募股权公司 EQT 合伙人卡罗琳娜·布罗查多（Carolina Brochado）表示，Vinted 已经为此准备了相当一段时间。不过她表示，目前公司管理层仍专注于扩大业务，而非急于上市。
彭博智能（Bloomberg Intelligence）的高级零售分析师普纳姆·戈亚尔（Poonam Goyal）表示：“真正的驱动力是消费者。”她指出，经过多年的通货膨胀，购物者变得更加注重性价比，而年轻一代越来越多地将购买二手商品视为主流。“人们以购买二手商品为荣。他们想炫耀自己淘到的好货。这是一种完全不同的心态。”
Plantenga 目前更紧迫的挑战是攻克美国市场。他说：“在美国扩张期间你不会进行 IPO 的——那太疯狂了。”
Vinted 通过投资物流、支付和技术以吸引更多买家和卖家进入其平台，从而在欧洲处于领先地位。这使其具备了规模和关键质量，使其在竞争对手中脱颖而出。由肯·加夫雷尔斯基（Ken Gawrelski）领导的富国银行分析师称其为西欧“C2C 商业中的颠覆性力量”。
此次进军美国使 Vinted 与已有的竞争对手展开竞争，包括该行业的“元老” EBay——后者今年以约 12 亿美元 billion 收购了时尚平台 Depop 以加强其二手产品供应；Facebook Marketplace；Poshmark 以及 ThredUp。该公司在今年的一次二级份额销售中估值超过 90 亿美元 billion，投资者包括 EQT、贝莱德（BlackRock）、安大略省教师退休金计划（Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan）和施罗德（Schroders）。
“我们是否能够在该市场真正竞争并获胜是一个非常大的挑战——”
单身状态可能在州保险市场中损害驾驶员利益
美国消费者联邦会 (Consumer Federation of America) 进行的一项测试发现，单身、离婚和丧偶的驾驶员支付的汽车保险费更高。当时，婚姻状况在民权法中并非受保护的特征，但当立法机关在 2005 年修订法律并明确禁止婚姻状况歧视时，它成为了受保护特征——这也是法学家们在得出不同结论时争论的另一个问题。
他表示，（该法律赋予了）在 103 号提案框架下对汽车费率审批的广泛权力。1996 年的条例还允许在设定费率时考虑个人的性别。
汽车保费，但时任保险专员的戴夫·琼斯在 2019. 年将其作为可选评级因素予以取消。拉拉的发言人加布里埃尔·桑切斯强调，该决定不会影响当前的费率，因为现有的法规依然有效。“禁止性别评级是一场巨大的斗争，也是停止歧视的重要第一步。取消婚姻状况评级是逻辑上的下一步，也应当被禁止，”他在给《时报》的一份声明中表示。“基于这项裁决，没有人会看到其汽车保单的保费上涨或下降，”桑切斯说道，并指出此前几任专员并未修改该法规。曾撰写关于单身生活书籍的前弗吉尼亚大学教授贝拉·德保罗表示，自该法规制定以来，社会已经发生了变化，更多的人选择晚婚或终身不婚。“该裁决还再次确认了
保险委员会的问题，”普兰腾加说道，但他拒绝分享在该地的具体计划。他表示，Vinted 正在美国进行早期测试，且初步结果令人鼓舞。覆盖 EBay 的富国银行分析师在 7 月的报告中指出，Vinted 在 1 月份进入美国市场后，其第二季度的美国日活跃用户数较去年同期增长了六倍多。2024. 年达到数十亿。瑞典的 EQT 在 2021 年首次投资 Vinted 且至今仍是其最大股东之一，该机构认为，这家公司的竞争优势现在已远远超出二手时尚领域。布罗查多表示，由于网络效应、技术基础设施和不断扩展的生态系统，该公司越来越像 Airbnb、Uber 和 MercadoLibre 这样规模化的市场平台。全球对转售时尚的渴求催生了一批参与者。其中包括日本的 Mercari、英国的 Hardly Ever Worn It 和 Depop、法国的 Vestiaire Collective 以及美国的 RealReal 等多个平台。许多平台在将需求转化为持续盈利方面陷入苦战。Vestiaire Collective 预计将在 2026, 年实现首次年度盈利，距其成立已过去 15 年多；而亚洲作为增长最快的地区之一，阿里巴巴支持的闲鱼 (Idle Fish)、得物 (Poizon)、Mercari 和 Kream 等平台正在迅速扩大规模。“Vinted 有潜力成为二手商品的亚马逊，”她说道。该公司继续在欧洲扩张，并进入了包括电子产品、书籍和玩具在内的新产品类别。通过 Vinted Go，它在欧洲运营着 18,000 个以上的取货和投递点，包括储物柜和指定店铺；而 Vinted Pay 则将其触角延伸至支付生态系统。Vinted 的模式很简单：在平台销售对卖家免费，卖家可保留 100% 的标价。卖家只需拍摄想要出售的物品照片，添加描述，设定价格并在应用程序上发布列表。当有人购买商品时，Vinted 向买家收取少量费用，并为卖家提供预付运费标签。随后，卖家将商品打包并送到当地的物流点。一旦买家确认收到货物，Vinted 就会将款项释放到卖家的虚拟钱包中。无论是寻求清理多余库存的品牌，还是希望通过不再穿着的衣物赚外快的个人，获取库存始终是这些平台面临的最大障碍之一。在 2016, 年接手后，Vinted 的普兰腾加彻底改造了公司的商业模式，最显著的变化是取消了卖家费用，转而向买家收费。这些变化吸引了更多库存，并改善了
市场流动性并为盈利奠定了基础，使 Vinted 能够对其基础设施进行大量投资，而投资者目前将其视为其核心竞争优势。居住在维尔纽斯、有两个孩子的母亲 Erika Orlovskiene 在近十年间一直使用 Vinted 买卖各种商品，从童装、连衣裙到书籍和鱼缸。Vinted 在 2025, 处理了超过 $12 亿的商品交易额，比前一年增长了 47%，而营收增长 38% 至超过 $1.2 亿。由于加快了在德国以及其物流业务 Vinted Go 的投资，净利润下降 19% 至约 $71 亿。这一跌幅并未阻止投资者在今年将该公司估值定在超过 $9 亿，高于 $5.4 亿。“孩子们长得太快，衣服很快就积压了很多，那些几乎没穿过的衣服该怎么办？”她说道，并估计这些年她节省了“数千欧元”。
“这不仅是为了省钱，也是为了可持续发展。” Seputyte 和 Lindeberg 为彭博社撰稿。Genaro Molina 洛杉矶时报。尽管加利福尼亚州 (加州) 的同性婚姻已合法化十多年，但个体仍处于不利地位。然而，根据起诉书，除非经过登记，否则部分保险公司将国内伴侣视为单身。在 1996, 58% 的成年人已婚，男性的结婚中位年龄为 27.1 岁，女性为 24.8. 到 2025, 仅 51% 的成年人已婚，男性结婚中位年龄升至 30.8 岁，女性为 28.4 岁，目前就职于加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的 DePaulo 表示。针对专员的诉讼暂停了针对保险集团的拟议集体诉讼。被告包括水星保险 (Mercury) 和 Farmers，后者是一家洛杉矶保险公司，并在该案件中提交了支持里卡多·拉拉 (Ricardo Lara) 的简报。“歧视非婚人士的做法与我们现在的生活方式越来越不相符，”她表示。“他们使近一半的成年人口处于不利地位。”在 2022, 提交的针对里卡多·拉拉 (Ricardo Lara) 的诉讼中同样指出了这些社会变化，同时指控黑人和拉丁裔人群由于结婚率较低，受到了婚姻状况法规的不成比例的影响。Schreiber 表示，在计划对 7 月 16 日的裁决提出上诉期间，这些诉讼将继续暂停。“我们认为[这]是一个非常危险的先例，加利福尼亚州 (加州) 最高法院应该对此介入，”他说道。该诉讼还指控 LGBTQ+
By Kate Sequeira
Declining enrollment in California public schools is spawning a new and growing partnership that is helping to keep child-care centers in business — vacant classrooms are being filled with toddlers and babies.
From Los Angeles to Solano counties, nonprofit day-care operators see underused facilities already centered on children — spacious blacktops with ample room for portables, empty classrooms and even entire closed campuses — as a way to expand services to families desperate for infant and toddler care, the 3-and-younger age group in which there are critical shortages of slots in California.
By Itzel Luna
School districts, looking for ways to keep neighborhood campuses open amid dwindling enrollment, see future students in the little ones on site — and an opportunity to build family loyalty without having to operate the programs themselves.
“The school, it’s a very trusted place for the communities,” Early Edge Executive Director Patricia Lozano said. “If we can add all these elements … I think it’s just making it more accessible.”
Recently, centers have [See Child care, A7]
[图注] TEACHER Sylvia Loera works with children at a preschool on the Park Elementary campus in Alhambra.
By Laurence Darmiento
California has long been known as a progressive state that embraces evolving lifestyles, but when it comes to auto insurance, it seems stuck in the 1950s.
Single, divorced or widowed and need coverage for your car? You very well might pay more than your married neighbor — a penalty sanctioned by the state and judiciary.
A California appeals court last month upheld a lower court ruling that rejected a lawsuit seeking to abolish the right of insurers to charge the unwed more because of their higher statistical chance of getting into crashes. The decision is expected to be appealed.
The lawsuit by 11 unmarried drivers specifically sought a court order that would have forced Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to eliminate marriage as an optional factor in setting rates, but he opposed it, even as regulators bar the consideration of sex, age, race and other personal characteristics.
“This is really a question about whether the insurance commissioner has the ability to pick and choose what civil rights laws are appropriate to enforce,” said Christian Schreiber, who is among several attorneys representing the drivers who also have filed proposed class actions against 12 insurers over the rule.
A test conducted by the Consumer Federation of America, cited in a legal brief in support of the litigation, found that unmarried drivers pay more. Single, divorced and widowed drivers got quotes in April 2025 that were up to $108 higher for six months of premiums from four out of five California carriers. Mercury, a large Los Angeles-based insurer, charged the highest differential, though it offered lower rates to widowed motorists with 34 or more years of driving experience. It declined to comment on the litigation.
State Farm, California’s largest auto insurer, [See Insurance, A10]
In Orange County, an email landed in attorney Sabrina Rivera’s inbox in April, from a Colorado man panicked about the status of his immigration case.
He told Rivera that she was his lawyer. But Rivera had never heard his name before, never represented him and had no idea why he thought she had.
The man sent screenshots of his text conversations with someone claiming to be Rivera. Someone was using her name — and her state bar license number — to scam the man into believing she was representing him in his removal proceedings. He had paid the impostor at least $700 since February, he told her.
Immigration law scams surged in the last year and a half, since the Trump administration’s crackdown resulted in thousands of new cases flooding the court system, attorneys and immigrant aid groups say.
Bar-licensed attorneys have also tried to fast-track the system, filing invalid asylum or lawful permanent residency applications for unknowing clients.
The area of law has always been ripe for fraud, but the hustles have evolved, getting more sophisticated in the last year. Most recently, scammers have been taking on the identities of practicing attorneys.
“It’s really the worst environment that I think anyone in the field has ever seen for taking advantage of people,” said Daniel Sharp, the chief of the Los Angeles County Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Some rely on AI to generate realistic-looking attorney photos and websites. Other scammers take videos and photos from real practicing attorneys and overlay different audio to trick immigrants into sending them money.
[See Scams, A5]
By Samantha Masunaga
Researchers at a UCLA-affiliated marmot research lab launched an OnlyFans account to post videos of marmots captured in the wild as a way to help generate funding for their work and offset federal cuts to universities.
Since it debuted at the end of May, the account known as “OnlyMarms” has posted several dozen videos. In one, a female marmot known as “1” chases away a curious male named “G” as he pokes around her burrow, screeching as they go. In another, a marmot eyes the game camera, getting closer and closer to the lens.
“These are wild animals, so it’s important for people to know that we are just getting footage of them in their natural environment,” said Emily Renkey, a first-year graduate student in the Blumstein Lab at UCLA. “We’re just framing it as a way to be in the field observing marmots with us.”
Unlike much of the not-suitable-for-work content on OnlyFans, OnlyMarms is G-rated, though an occasional scuffle might make it more PG, said Dan Blumstein, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA and co-director of the Marmot Project at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado.
Behavioral and physiological ecologist Ken Armitage, who died in 2022, began his marmot research at the Rocky Mountain lab in 1962. His study of the yellow-bellied marmot remains one of the longest-running studies of its kind. Blumstein assumed responsibility for the project in 2001 when Armitage retired.
Daniel Blumstein
MARMOTS caught on video in the wild are the stars of OnlyMarms, which generates funding for the lab.
Blumstein came up with [See OnlyMarms, A6]
By Ben Wieder
WASHINGTON — After experiencing some turbulence last week, Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general appears to be back on course.
The acting attorney general released an order Sunday night officially declaring dead the nearly $1.8-billion so-called anti-weaponization fund that would have given payments to allies of President Trump. A separate news release also placed limits on tax audit immunity granted to Trump, two of his sons and their businesses.
Those announcements were enough to persuade two holdout Republican lawmakers, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, on Monday to end their opposition, clearing the biggest obstacle to Blanche’s nomination.
The fund and the immunity were the product of a [See Blanche, A6]
“These assurances are not worth the paper they’re written on. They don’t pull back on the ongoing attempts to give the President, his family, and his affiliates unauthorized immunity from tax audits,” said Brandon DeBot, policy director of the Tax Law Center at NYU Law.
By Noah Haggerty
At the turn of the century, wildfires destroyed only about 3% of the California homes they came into contact with. By 2020, the rate had risen to 18%, according to a new study from UC Merced.
“That’s really kind of disheartening — that we’ve tried our best to mitigate fires ... yet fires are destroying more homes,” said Amanda Carlson, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey who was not involved in the study but has found similar drops in the percentage of homes surviving in much of the American West.
It’s an indication that decades of efforts to clear flammable plants around homes and fortify their exteriors against flames, heat and embers are being outpaced by increasingly extreme wildfire behavior and construction in fire-prone areas.
“Fires will continue to grow, because climate change has already occurred,” said Mukesh Kumar, a postdoctoral scientist who led the study. “The encouraging message is that we have identified the factors associated with higher survivability — even in California.”
California has taken significant steps to increase the odds of homes surviving wildfires in recent decades, in response to increasingly destructive wildfires fueled partly by global warming and a history of forest mismanagement.
[See Homes, A6]
[图注] Justin Casterline Getty Images
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A Greek and a Danish national died and two others were hospitalized in the helicopter collision. All four were private operators chartered by the Greek firefighting service. The continent is heating at over twice the global average. By Derek Gatopoulos and Sylvie Corbet In France, firefighters in the region around Bordeaux guarded against potential flare-ups inside a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris. ATHENS — A recordbreaking hot and dry summer tightened its grip on Europe on Monday, as waterdropping planes swooped over a major wildfire in Greece, firefighters in France sought to stabilize a blaze in Provence, and much of the U.K. recorded its driest July in nearly two centuries. A prolonged heat wave and lack of rainfall led to the driest July in England and Wales in nearly 200 years of recordkeeping, according to provisional statistics, the U.K.’s weather service said Monday. All of Wales and more than half of England are officially in drought, the Met Office said. The dry spell was accompanied by sweltering temperatures across much of the U.K., following heat Strong winds eased in Greece, allowing firefighting flights to resume, a day after a midair collision between two helicopters killed two crew members. Tiny Nauru changes its name to Naoero stone atoll was colonized by Germany and later administered by Australia before becoming an independent republic in 1968. By Charlotte Graham-McLay WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The Pacific Island country of Nauru has changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, its president said, matching the spelling and pronunciation in the national language. With the adoption of the name Naoero, the country becomes the latest nation to signal a shift away from a colonial past by changing its name. The tiny African kingdom of Eswatini reverted to its historic name from Swaziland in 2018. Other countries have sought the switch as a sort of rebrand, as Turkey did when Ankara asked the United Nations in 2022 to begin calling the country Türkiye, which the nation had long gone by at home. The country’s international code will change from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero. The move would return the remote South Pacific island nation to its traditional name, a statement posted Thursday to the government’s Facebook account said. Graham-McLay writes for the Associated Press. The country became known internationally as Nauru only because its local name was difficult for foreigners to pronounce and was a matter of convenience rather than one of choice, according to an earlier government statement. FOR THE RECORD MLK hospital: An article in the Aug. 3 Section A about Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital seeking more funding incorrectly cited the amount of Measure B funds that Cedars-Sinai received as $9.4 billion instead of $9.4 million. It also attributed a quote by Dr. Atul Nakhasi, vice president of government and community relations at MLK Community Healthcare, to Tony Weiss, director of media relations at MLK Community Healthcare. “This proposed change seeks to more faithfully honor our nation’s heritage, our language, and our identity,” President David Adeang said when he proposed the move to Parliament in January. With 12,000 residents, Nauru is the world’s thirdsmallest country by population, after Tuvalu and Vatican City. The tiny coral limeHow to contact us (800) LA TIMES Reprint Requests For the rights to use articles, photos, graphics and page reproductions, e-mail reprint@latimes.com or call (213) 237-4565. 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LOS ANGELES TIMES (ISSN 0458-3035) is published by the Los Angeles Times, 2300 E. Imperial Highway, El Segundo, CA 90245. Periodicals postage is paid at Los Angeles, CA, and additional cities. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the above address. Home Delivery Subscription Rates (all rates include applicable CA sales taxes and apply to most areas) A2 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026 LATIMES.COM THE WORLD Europe’s hot, dry summer takes toll with fires, drought waves in May and June. Wales tied its record for its highest mean temperature for July while England and the U.K. recorded their second-warmest July. Athens area is still at high risk Gales over the weekend in Greece hampered firefighting efforts along mountainous and coastal areas while also allowing flames to spread more rapidly, but authorities said Monday the situation was improving. Authorities warned that areas surrounding Athens remained at high risk. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the region, including more than 250 rescued by boats from beaches in the area. Strong winds eased Monday, allowing the deployment of 12 water-dropping planes and 11 helicopters around the fire-hit Greek seaside resort of Porto Germeno, where multiple evacuations have been ordered. on charges of negligent arson. Despite improved detection methods and an expanded cooperation among European Union members, Greece and other countries along Europe’s Mediterranean coast suffer devastating wildfires every summer as spells of heat wave temperatures grow longer. “To put it in a headline: Conditions are better but we are pressing forward because there are still multiple points of activity,” Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said. “This is a difficult fire that has troubled us.” Europe is Earth’s fastestwarming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service. Rising temperatures and prolonged The blaze was blamed on a faulty power line from a wind farm and led to the arrests of two contractors U.S. admiral warns China against trying to dominate the Indo-Pacific region Command. associated press Paparo’s remarks come as tensions remain high in the South China Sea, where China’s expansive maritime claims overlap with those of several Southeast Asian nations. The Philippines has been at the center of a series of confrontations with China, particularly around a disputed shoal, where Chinese and Philippine vessels have repeatedly faced off. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The head of U.S. Pacific Command said Monday that coercive actions by China and other actors are challenging regional stability, warning the United States will not allow any nation to dominate the IndoPacific. Adm. Samuel Paparo said some actors were using “false claims of legitimacy” to justify intimidation and coercion. Manila has accused Beijing of dangerous maneuvers, water cannon attacks and attempts to block Philippine resupply missions. China has rejected those accusations and maintains its territorial claims in the disputed waterway. “That’s not the rule of law. That’s the rule by law. That distinction between law as a tool of order versus law as a weapon of raw power, is the defining fault line of our time,” he said via video link at a regional security conference in Malaysia organized by the U.S. Pacific The United States has said it does not take sides in competing sovereignty claims but supports freedom of navigation, internaBrazil’s Lula, 80, launches reelection bid Brazil’s elections, pointing to President Trump and Milei. By Mauricio Savarese “This election in Brazil determines the future of Latin America,” Edinho Silva, the Workers’ Party chairman, said during Sunday’s convention. Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia have elected Trump-inspired presidents recently. SÃO PAULO — What is very likely to be the last reelection campaign for Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was confirmed Sunday by his Workers’ Party as the 80-year-old leader faces increasing pressure from foreign leaders ahead of October’s vote. It will be his seventh race for the top job. Flávio Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, was an ally of Trump but is now serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for an attempted coup. Lula’s rival, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, has enjoyed open support from members of the Trump administration, Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Lula has managed to draw centrist parties away from his right-wing adversary and arrives at his party’s convention with higher popularity in the polls than six months ago. Brazil’s president said in his party convention speech that he wants to boost his country’s defense industry and protect its rare minerals, declaring that “no Chinese, no American, no French will touch” these resources without respecting the South American nation’s sovereignty. His campaign is touting a change to Brazil’s income tax system in which people with low incomes pay less and a debt forgiveness program that has quickly become very popular. “We will have to be much more daring to change a lot of things in this country,” Lula said. Workers’ Party politicians have expressed worries about foreign-sponsored threats of coordinated automated bot campaigns and social media manipulation designed to influence Other members of his party highlighted the risk of foreign intervention in Invest now. Low minimum. Early access. The Next-Generation Media Platform Aris Oikonomou AFP/Getty Images A FIREFIGHTER battles a blaze in the Megara region of Greece on Monday. The wildfire burned about 420 square kilometers, making it France’s largest wildfire on record. Monday’s return includes Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourist hot spot along the Atlantic coast, and Le Porge, the municipality hardest-hit by the fire, where 183 homes were destroyed. Campsites remain closed. drought leave vegetation drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely. Massive blaze in France contained In France, thousands of evacuees were allowed to return home or to holiday accommodations Monday after a massive wildfire remained contained. More than 224,000 people had fled in what officials said was the country’s largest civilian evacuation outside of wartime. Gatopoulos and Corbet write for the Associated Press. Corbet reported from Paris. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Thomas Adamson in Paris and Mike Corder in The Hague contributed. tional law and the ability of states to operate in accordance with their rights. commander said the region remains the world’s geopolitical and economic center of gravity, with growing instability and security challenges making cooperation among allies and partners increasingly important. Paparo emphasized that freedom of the seas, maritime security and open commerce are key to regional stability, saying peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for the sovereignty of all nations are essential to preserving the Indo-Pacific order. Earlier at the conference, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro vowed his country will continue to “push back” against the threat from China. “The United States is clear-eyed about the complex security environment in this region. Our posture and our intent are well defined. The United States is deterring China through strength, not through confrontation,” Paparo said. “We will not let any nation dominate this region or sweep away the hard-fought sovereign rights of independent states.” Teodoro told reporters later that the Philippines’ concerns extend beyond China’s activities in the South China Sea, pointing to Beijing’s actions in other areas, including a recent ballistic missile launch into the Pacific Ocean, as evidence of its expanding reach and growing military presence. “China is everywhere. … This is a matter of concern,” he said. The U.S. Indo-Pacific voters and undermine trust in Brazil’s electronic voting system. video in support of the younger Bolsonaro. Lula has said he is defending Brazil’s national sovereignty. He recently held a long call with President Xi Jinping of China, one of Brazil’s most important trading partners. On Wednesday at the party convention, Lula said he doesn’t want Trump as an enemy. Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, who will run again alongside Lula, said Sunday that Brazil’s electronic voting system “is so good that it doesn’t take votes from Argentines and Americans,” in a reference to Milei and Trump. His supporters say he could lead South American trade bloc Mercosur into striking deals with partners globally. Brazil is the biggest economy in the group, but Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are also members. The Trump administration has imposed new tariffs on Brazilian exports and changed the designation of two local criminal organizations to terrorist groups, which legal analysts say could hurt companies and open a path for other kinds of intervention. Both moves took place after Sen. Bolsonaro visited the White House and the U.S. State Department. Like his father, Sen. Bolsonaro has tried to sow unfounded doubts about Brazil’s voting system. Those statements have raised concerns at Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, which in July denied visas to two U.S. State Department officials reportedly because of fears that they sought to do the same. Trump and his administration have frequently sought to undermine confidence in elections at home and abroad based on unfounded claims. But the State Department denied Brazil’s accusations. Argentina’s Milei came to São Paulo on July 25 to speak at Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party convention and sparked a diplomatic crisis when he insulted Lula and the Supreme Court justice who oversaw the elder Bolsonaro’s trial and conviction. Netanyahu recorded a Savarese writes for the Associated Press.
He said that a plan was in place for U.S. forces to carry out “the biggest attack since World War II” on Sunday. But he decided to scrap the plan and give diplomacy more time to play out after hearing from key gulf leaders — including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — as well as at the request of unnamed Iranian officials. By Aamer Madhani WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that newly planned talks with Tehran are the “last chance” for Iran to forge a deal and avoid an escalation of U.S. strikes on the country. Trump, speaking at the Oval Office, said he expects negotiations that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and create a pathway for Iran to address the United States’ concerns about its nuclear program will begin in the next day or two. But Trump reiterated that he’s running out of patience with Iran. “This is the last chance for them to sign a good document,” Trump told reporters. “The first phase is the opening of the straits. The second phase will be the denuclearization,” the president said. “And that will take a little while.” Earlier Monday, Trump had criticized Iran on social media as being “unbelievably duplicitous.” His ire was raised by Iran claiming that its meetings with Oman on Monday were focused solely on establishing a temporary route for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the global oil trade. Although Trump has reveled in the U.S. military decimating layers of Tehran’s leadership and devastating its air force and navy, Iran is betting it can outlast Trump as he faces diminished stockpiles of munitions and the difficulty of executing a war that is unpopular with the American electorate ahead of November’s midterm election. “They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they’re only dealing with Oman,” Trump grumbled. Trump said he decided to hold off on ordering American forces to carry out new massive strikes against Iran at the urging of gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Trump said whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking” By Justin Kabumba and Chinedu Asadu BUNIA, Congo — Esther Lutula stopped going for prenatal checkups shortly after the current Ebola outbreak was declared in eastern Congo. Midway into her pregnancy, the 26-year-old feared being put into isolation simply for having a fever, a common misconception. “That’s why I’m waiting until the disease is no longer widespread,” she told the Associated Press from her home in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province and epicenter of the outbreak declared on May 15. But that could be a deadly mistake. Maternal mortality across Ituri soon doubled as news of the outbreak spread, with an average of about six women dying per week due to childbirth complications, according to Noemi Dalmonte, deputy country representative of the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, in Congo. climbs even more. Although it’s common for Africans to avoid health centers during public health emergencies because of safety concerns, “with Ebola, it is stronger because Ebola has a lot of rumors,” Dalmonte said in an interview. There was an average of 3.1 maternal deaths weekly this year before the outbreak; that jumped to 5.8 deaths from May 25 to July 19. Among those, the deaths outside health centers have also jumped from 9.1% to 17.4% within the same period, UNFPA data shows. With some wary residents questioning whether Ebola even exists, and health workers in one of Congo’s most remote and volatile regions struggling to respond to the outbreak with few supplies, pregnant women have less care than ever. About 180,000 pregnancy deaths are recorded every year across the continent. As Congo battles the fastestgrowing Ebola outbreak on record, with more than 1,600 confirmed deaths, health and aid workers are warning of a shadow crisis as pregnant women avoid hospitals and the country’s already high maternal mortality rate Pregnancy complications Congo’s has among the world’s highest rates of both childbirths per woman and deaths around childbirth. Women in the vast central African nation have almost LATIMES.COM TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026 A3 Atta Kenare AFP/Getty Images Trump calls new talks ‘last chance’ for Iran A WOMAN in Tehran passes an anti-U.S. billboard featuring a toppled Statue of Liberty and people holding Iranian and other flags. about preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. deadline Trump had set for Tehran to capitulate or face attacks on bridges and power plants — strikes he said would mean “a whole civilization will die.” Trump may still come to the conclusion that a massive escalation in the conflict with Iran is necessary. Then in June, Trump threatened to hit Iran “VERY HARD” and seize Iran’s energy base on Kharg Island to “assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets,” he wrote on social media, only to call off the strikes in a later post after claiming that peace negotiations had progressed with high-level Iranian leaders. But critics say his hesitation also might reflect an unspoken understanding inside the administration that U.S. military might alone may not be enough to compel Iran to back down and bring an end to a now months-long war that Trump had earlier downplayed as a weeks-long “excursion.” Left unsaid by the president was that such an endeavor would require U.S. troops on the ground in Iran — a risky proposition politically for a president who campaigned on avoiding foreign entanglements and criticized past administrations for becoming bogged down in endless wars. “I think what we’re seeing here is a president who has an approach that’s just rather erratic,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “At this point, he’s trying to get us back to February. And I think if he could — if he had a big reset button he could hit — he would certainly take that option.” With this latest episode, Trump suggested that Bin Salman played a particularly important role in his turning away from escalating the fight. There have been several moments over the course of the conflictwhen Trump has demonstrated his proclivity for the bellicose only to back off at the last minute, while declaring his threats spurred progress: The U.S. president spoke by phone with the de facto leader of the kingdom Saturday before announcing he was halting strikes. The crown prince conveyed that an escalation in fighting could have a severe impact on the global economy if Tehran responded to a new U.S. bombardment by In early April, the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an announcement that came less than two hours before a Pregnant women avoid Congo hospitals amid Ebola Moses Sawasawa Associated Press ELODIE, then eight months pregnant, outside her home in Bunia, Congo, in June. six children on average. forts to battle misinformation, some residents hold mistaken views of the outbreak. At least 19,000 women died from pregnancy complications in Congo in 2023, according to the latest U.N. data, tied with India and second only to Nigeria globally. “Right now, if you feel sick and go to the hospital, they say it’s Ebola and they put you in quarantine right away. That’s what scares people,” said Elodie Yabiri, a Bunia resident who is pregnant. Now health workers in Ituri say they are seeing a decline in hospital visits as people worry about the risk of infection. This type of Ebola has no approved treatment or vaccine. Yabiri said she’s avoiding hospitals as much as she can. As long as she still feels her unborn child moving, she believes everything is still OK. Women in need of care also fear being caught up in violence. Ebola treatment centers have been attacked by residents fueled by misinformation or anger over strict outbreak measures. The outbreak has strained Congo’s already overstretched healthcare system, complicating access for the pregnant women who still come for prenatal care or birth. Health facilities in the five affected provinces are redirecting staff and supplies to the response, reducing access to essential maternal care services, acAt the Bénédicte Clinic in Bunia, the number of women registered for prenatal care has dropped from 60 each month to about 10, said Dr. Sonny Mwembo, the medical director. Even now, weeks into efPortions of Europe try to avert an energy crisis By Justin Spike BUDAPEST, Hungary — Numerous governments across Central and Eastern Europe are taking steps to conserve electricity and avert an energy crisis as record-low water levels on the Danube River have forced power plants to the brink of shutting down. Persistent drought and successive extreme heat waves have deprived one of Europe’s largest rivers of water, pushing the Danube’s levels in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, to around 4 incheson Monday, well below the previous all-time low of 13 inches set in 2018. Water levels are not expected to rise on the Danube in the coming days or even weeks as no significant rainfall is forecast, and as a renewed extreme heat wave bears down on the region with daytime highs topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, electricity and water use are on the rise. The Danube’s record-low levels have pushed Hungary’s only nuclear power plant, the Soviet-built, fourreactor plant at Paks, to the brink of powering down entirely for the first time in its 44 years in service. The Paks plant, which uses water from the Danube to cool its reactors, on Monday was producing only 240 megawatts of power rather than the usual 2,000 due to successive power-downs of its four reactors. targeting some of the United States’ gulf allies, according to a person briefed on the call who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. Saudi officials, the person added, have underscored in their engagements with the Trump administration that the kingdom is in a good position to defend itself against further potential Iranian strikes — as are fellow energy titans Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — but that Kuwait could be more vulnerable to attacks by Iran-backed militias in Iraq. In video posted to Facebook on Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said engineers had managed to keep the plan’s final operating turbine temporarily running, averting an expected shutdown on the weekend. A full power-down will probably only happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, Magyar said. Also Monday, Iran’s judiciary said it executed two men after convicting them of spying for Israel during both last year’s 12-day war and the ongoing conflict. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified the two as Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat, who were accused of providing military coordinates, images and other intelligence used in attacks on Iranian targets. “This is very good news, because the complete shutdown of the Paks power plant can still be avoided, at least temporarily, on one of the biggest consumption days,” he said. Hungary’s government last week asked major industrial users to curb their electricity consumption and sought voluntary savings from households in order to conserve supply, particularly in peak demand hours between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Last week, Iran publicly hanged two men convicted of killing four police officers during anti-government protests in January. Madhani writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report. Although conservation measures were initially voluntary, Magyar’s government on Saturday issued a decree allowing for them to be made mandatory for large industrial or commercial consumers. He said Monday that the conservation push had resulted in 700 fewer megawatts of electricity being used the previous day, and thanked Hungarians for their efforts. cording to aid groups. At least 44 infected health workers have died. Many other health workers have walked off their jobs, protesting the lack of payment. Meanwhile, plants in neighboring countries have also seen dramatic drops in power generation, as well as disruptions to shipping and agriculture. At least 12 attacks have been recorded against health facilities and teams since the outbreak was declared in mid-May. Romania’s military on Monday used 397 pounds of explosives to blast rock near the lower Danube’s Bala Canal in an effort to redirect water into the river’s main channel and toward the state-owned Cernavoda nuclear power plant. “We are doing everything we can to make the public understand how dangerous this disease is,” said Dr. Ghislain Maneba, an epidemiologist and community investigator in Ituri’s Rwampara health zone. “We are working day and night without being paid.” The Danube’s water flow has fallen to 1,500 cubic meters per second in Romania, less than a third of its July average. Authorities have already shut down one reactor unit at the Cernavoda plant, which is operating at about half its normal capacity. Women at higher risk for disease Ebola is rare but highly contagious and severe, often fatal. It spreads in people through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing. Acting Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced a nationwide state of alert in the energy sector on Friday, and warned that the Danube’s low water levels threatened the shutdown of Cernavoda’s second reactor. He appealed to citizens to voluntarily limit electricity usage in peak evening hours. Women are usually the primary caregivers when a loved one becomes ill. Many are among front-line health workers in this outbreak as well. Associated Press journalists covering the outbreak have seen pregnant health workers among the responders. In Serbia, record-low Danube levels have pushed the country’s key hydroelectric plant to operate with only 20% of its capacity, prompting Prime Minister Djuro Macut to preside over an emergency meeting on Monday focusing on energy problems. Meanwhile, pregnant women who delay care and avoid health facilities “could die not from Ebola itself but because the care that would have saved them was no longer accessible, trusted or safe,” Dalmonte said. Spike writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, contributed to this report. Kabumba and Asadu write for the Associated Press. Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.
By Lindsey Wasson, Manuel Valdes and Gene Johnson
SPOKANE, Wash. — Some residents returned to devastated neighborhoods in eastern Washington state to find their homes leveled by wildfires that erupted across a parched landscape over the weekend, covering yards in charred debris. In some cases, only chimneys were left standing.
The fires in and around Spokane, the state’s second-largest city, had burned about 12.5 square miles by Monday and filled the sky with smoke and haze. Light winds and lower temperatures arrived to help firefighters, but about 700 buildings had been destroyed and some 67,000 people were under evacuation orders.
In one Spokane neighborhood, blackened vehicles, a boat twisted by the heat and melted plastic recycling bins remained. Across the street, lawns were still green and houses were spared, as residents continued to run hoses or sprinklers to water their properties.
“It’s like a war zone,” Miriam said. “There’s nothing to save.”
“At our age, do we want to rebuild?” her husband asked.
Cpl. Mark Gregory, a spokesperson for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, said the county initially received nearly 300 reports of missing people, but by Monday they had cleared all but 14. Those outstanding reports were more likely to represent people who had not been in contact since evacuating than people who were truly missing or in danger, authorities said.
Among those who returned were Miriam and Daniel Sim, both 76. Miriam held her hand over her mouth as she surveyed the ruins of the home where they had lived since 2005.
Angela and Wayde Deatherage, both 49, evacuated shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday with a son, grabbing a few bins of family photos and heirloom rings but not much else. Wayde Deatherage took some back roads and returned by early evening. He stopped at the end of the street and called his wife: “Our house is done.”
The couple returned to their property Sunday. “It’s just ash,” Angela Deatherage said of the home where they had lived for nearly 22 years.
The Spokane-area wildfires were completely uncontained, said Courtney James, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
They were among dozens across the western U.S., stretching the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. At least 390 square miles have burned across Washington.
[图注] JANA JENSEN, right, sifts through the remains of her parents’ home in Spokane, Wash., with her son Aaren.
Wasson, Valdes and Johnson write for Associated Press. Wasson and Valdez reported from Spokane and Johnson from Seattle.
By Kevin Rector
California filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration Monday — one to block President Trump’s latest round of tariffs on international trading partners, the other to block his administration from sharing needy families’ personal data with immigration officials.
The administration has previously sought the personal data of Medicaid recipients, SNAP food assistance recipients, immigrants who have filed taxes with the Internal Revenue Service and registered voters in states across the country. All of those demands have also been challenged in court, with varying degrees of success.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, whose office brought the lawsuits alongside other Democrat-led states, said they were both intended to rein in a lawless president pushing policies that threaten American families already struggling to afford basic necessities.
Bonta said the new tariffs are part of a “failed and illegal economic policy” that has previously been blocked in court. He alleged that the proposed data sharing was part of a broader and illegal “mass surveillance effort” by the Trump administration to target its political opponents.
Bonta’s office has now filed 82 lawsuits against the current Trump administration.
Tussle over tariffs
Trump’s latest tariffs, levies of between 10% and 12.5%, took effect late last month and apply to more than 80 countries, including some of the closest U.S. allies and largest trading partners, such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union. They followed a Trump administration announcement of new 50% tariffs on many Canadian products, set to go into effect this month.
The White House has previously defended both tariffs and data-sharing policies as part of Trump’s “America first” agenda to improve the economic standing of American families.
In separate statements to The Times, it defended the new tariffs as a legitimate means of combating forced labor in international markets, which it alleged is having a negative impact on the U.S., and dismissed the data-sharing challenge as an effort by Democrats to protect undocumented immigrants over American families.
“Tariffs are taxes, and the American people cannot and should not shoulder the extra costs that come from the president’s failed and illegal economic policy — no matter how much the president wants them to,” Bonta said in announcing the lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Trump has previously defended his tariffs, including a prior set that was ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court, as necessary to fix years of unfair trading practices in which international partners took advantage of the U.S. However, many economists have determined that the cost of the tariffs is being passed on to U.S. consumers and contributing to the persistent inflation causing economic pain nationwide.
Two previous attempts by the Trump administration to unilaterally levy tariffs on trading partners were rejected by the courts in the face of similar legal challenges by California and other states. In February, the Supreme Court rejected a sweeping slate of tariffs Trump had imposed on an emergency basis. In May, the Court of International Trade turned back another set.
The Trump administration has said the latest tariffs are authorized by a separate law not considered in the previous litigation — one related to combating forced labor in global trade.
Data-sharing fight
California joined a similar coalition of Democrat-led states to file a lawsuit challenging the sharing of needy families’ data, in federal court in Washington, D.C.
During a morning news conference, Bonta said one of his concerns is that immigration officials will use data to target the undocumented parents of U.S. citizen children who are legitimately receiving assistance through the program.
The lawsuit challenges a notice the Trump administration issued last month announcing the Administration for Children and Families would begin sharing the personal information of recipients in the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to outside agencies — including with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration enforcement units.
“They’re seeking Social Security information, marital status, income information,” he said. “We think that they might be interested in that information to potentially target parents.”
He said he also believes the data sharing is part of a much broader effort by the Trump administration to gather up as much data as possible in order to target individuals who do not conform with the administration’s political agenda, including on immigration policy and on issues such as abortion and gender-affirming care.
“While the Trump Administration continues to break the law in order to amass an ever-greater trove of people’s personal information, we’ll continue stepping in to protect the privacy of our people,” Bonta said.
The program provides $16 billion in grants annually to the states, which use it to provide cash assistance to low-income families. Some 350,000 families in California receive support through the program each month, Bonta’s office said.
The states’ lawsuit argued that the reliance on labor law was simply a “guise” used by Trump to impose new tariffs, and that “there is no rational fit between the purported problem of forced labor in international supply chains and the blanket global tariffs” imposed.
Bonta said the sharing of program data with Homeland Security would be a clear violation of the law establishing the fund.
“The Trump Administration is exploiting a program designed to ensure children do not go hungry and to help needy families get back on their feet in order to fuel its mass surveillance effort. It’s cruel, unnecessary, and illegal,” Bonta said in a statement.
Bonta brought the case alongside the attorneys general or governors of 24 other states.
California is fighting alongside other states in court to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from sharing personal data of Medicaid recipients with Homeland Security, though some of that data has already been shared.
California is also fighting alongside other states in court to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s demand that states turn over the personal data of millions of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, recipients. The demand came with a threat from USDA that it would cut off funding to states that don’t comply. Courts have blocked the suspension of funds, but some data have been shared.
[图注] THE LATEST tariffs apply to over 80 countries. Above, the Port of Long Beach.
By David G. Savage
WASHINGTON — California and 22 other Democrat-led states urged the Supreme Court on Monday to block President Trump’s plan to take control of voting by mail through the U.S. Postal Service.
They said it is too late in the election year to impose a new set of regulations for mail ballots. Doing so, they said, would lead to mistakes, including eligible and registered voters being told they are not on the federal government’s approved list.
“Because of the high risk of errors and the limited window for correcting mistakes, many of the millions of voters who rely on mail voting — especially voters with disabilities and those in rural areas — would likely be denied mail ballots and disenfranchised,” they told the court.
More broadly, they argued that the Constitution “entrusted the states and Congress — not the president — with the responsibility to set rules for federal elections.”
The justices are likely to act in a few days on whether to allow the Trump administration’s plan to proceed pending the adoption of new and detailed guidelines.
Last week, Trump Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer sent an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court contending judges in Boston moved too quickly to halt the administration’s new federal restrictions on voting by mail.
He argued judges should stand back for now, even though the midterm elections are only three months away.
Trump’s executive order required the U.S. Postal Service to use state-by-state lists of eligible voters who may send a ballot by mail. Until now, states have had the constitutional authority to register voters for federal and state elections. And nearly a third of Americans now vote by mail.
The order called on Homeland Security to compile state-by-state lists of citizens who are eligible to vote. And it told the postal service that it must use those lists to restrict who may vote by mail.
“The USPS shall not transmit mail-in or absentee ballots from any individual unless those individuals have been enrolled on a State-specific list,” the order said.
Immigrant rights groups, including Los Angeles-based Inclusive Action for the City, are also suing to block a Trump administration plan to share IRS taxpayer data with Homeland Security. The Trump administration has said the data sharing would be used to target only criminals, but immigrant rights advocates have denounced it as an attempt to do just the opposite — to target immigrants who have been in the country and paid taxes for years.
[图注] ELECTION workers sort mail ballots in May in Los Angeles County.
am said. “There’s nothing to save.”
her husband asked.
[Scams, from A1] “Folks are more desperate for services than before.” Alexandra Lozano, who was licensed to practice law in Washington state and had an office in Commerce, surrendered her bar license and closed her law firm in June. Clients claim she fabricated stories of domestic abuse and human trafficking to apply for humanitarian visas, allegedly without her clients knowing. Lawyers and nonprofit organizations say they have identified at least 60 Los Angeles-based immigrants who were her clients. The number is probably much higher, said Lucero Ortiz, a clinical supervising attorney at the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic. “These are people who are trying to follow the rules and navigate a very complex legal system. Their best intentions are being taken advantage of,” said Kevin Brennan, the vice president of communications at Catholic Charities USA, an organization that represents more than 170 religious agencies across the country. More than 60 of its organizations that provide direct legal services have been impersonated bycon artists. The organizations have handled more than a thousand scam cases in the last year. Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, a member of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, has received calls about potential impersonations involving its attorneys at least weekly since President Trump retook office. ‘It’s really the worst environment that I think anyone in the field has ever seen for taking advantage of people.’ Lately, it happens daily, said Jose Luis Garcia, the interim program director. There is little data on the extent of the fraud cases, because reporting is so sporadic and scattered across dozens of agencies. — Daniel Sharp, chief of the Los Angeles County One marker: The Federal Trade Commission received 1,626 immigration service fraud complaints in 2025, up from 1,315 the year before and 623 reports in 2023. Office of Immigrant Affairs In one case, a family paid up to $30,000, attorneys said. People have sold personal belongings, such as their cars, to afford services that turn out to be bogus, said Christopher Ross, who oversees migration and refugee resettlement services at Catholic Charities USA. In total, 26 immigration lawyers have faced disciplinary actions nationwide this year as of late June, according to an analysis of data published by the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Eight of those were lawyers licensed to practice law in California, outpacing the six cases reported in all of 2025. One man in Los Angeles wanted to apply for a green card and paid $6,000 to someone posing as a lawyer in June. He received a fake green card approval, but the bogus attorney demanded he send an additional $4,000 through Zelle so the official documentation could be mailed to him, said Joel Rodriguez, the program director of Immigration and Refugee Resettlement at Catholic Charities of Los Angeles. He sent the money and never The state bar received 1,637 non-attorney complaints from July 2025 to June of this year, a spokesperson said. (These are not all related to immigration cases.) The agency received 1,223 complaints the year before, and 908 the year before that. The scams typically range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. who opposes the measure, said gerrymandering and dark money have put the Legislature out of step with the state’s voters, and “to think you can make the judicial branch a part of that dysfunctional system is frightening.” By John Hanna TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas voters will decide Tuesday whether to elect state Supreme Court justices rather than have the governor appoint them, a push from conservatives who have chafed for years over court decisions they disagreed with on issues such as abortion, school funding and the death penalty. Rulings GOP lawmakers dislike GOP lawmakers cite rulings by Kansas courts over the last two decades as reasons a change is needed. If the constitutional amendment passes, supporters hope to elect at least four conservative, antiabortion justices to the sevenmember court by 2033. Most recently, a district court judge in July reinstated a three-day grace period for voters to return mail ballots after election day, which GOP lawmakers had eliminated. Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, called the decision “outrageous” and urged people to vote yes on the ballot question. Kansas is considering the change amid concerns that increasingly contentious and expensive judicial elections in other states are making their courts more partisan and less independent. Spending in a single state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin last year topped $100 million. The same judge — a finalist to fill the most recent Supreme Court vacancy — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a term-limited Democrat The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said both people had underlying health conditions that may have been affected by the intestinal illness and dehydration. associated press LANSING, Mich. — Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan in the first confirmed deaths in the U.S. related to the microscopic parasite, state health officials announced Monday. The department said it will not be providing additional information about the deaths. LATIMES.COM TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026 A5 Fearing deportation, victimized by scammers heard from the person again. lawyers, who told them her case “was basically impossible.” They decided to give it another shot, and set an appointment with the man. When immigrants realize they’ve been ripped off, they’re often left with no money to secure real representation. Their cases become more complicated if false applications have been filed, making future legal work more expensive and possibly putting them at risk of immediate deportation, Ortiz said. He sold them a dream. “He promised he could make our case succeed,” she said. “He gave us hope. So we signed the contract.” In three years, they paid him $14,000 as their case stalled. The fraud has only added pressure on an overstrained immigration system. Thousands of immigrants are now seeking new representation, even as most nonprofit and pro bono legal services in the region are at capacity, with their funding cut by the Trump administration. Now he refused to answer the door. That night, her daughter-in-law stayed awake, scouring the internet for answers. She searched for his state bar number. Nothing. She looked at California’s attorney database. Still nothing. Then, she got a hit. But the man wasn’t a lawyer. He was an immigration consultant. :: Immigration consultants are not attorneys but can be licensed by California to perform certain functions, such as filling out forms. Martha paced the lobby of an office building in Oxnard one afternoon in December. She was nervous, but determined. Although the profession is legitimate, it has become a breeding ground for bad actors, who often claim to be lawyers and prey on vulnerable immigrants, said Kathleen Rivas, the supervising attorney for the immigrant rights project at Public Counsel. Just a few feet away, the man she hired more than three years ago to handle her naturalization case hid in his office, seemingly avoiding her. But after months of unanswered questions, Martha was intent on getting some answers. A family friend had recommended the man to Martha and her husband in early 2023. The couple had already met with several Marissa Montes, the director of Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic, was impersonated by someone who contacted immigrants Kansas voters to decide on electing justices to state’s high court access to abortion. Total spending by both sides has exceeded $12 million. blocked enforcement of a 2025 law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Masterson described him as “radical.” Legislators who worked to overturn the Supreme Court’s protections, including Masterson, helped write this proposal. The list of rulings Republicans criticize also includes rulings on education funding back to 2004. Supreme Court decisions forced lawmakers to increase funding to comply with the state constitution. Seven weeks after that 2022 vote, state Atty. Gen. Kris Kobach, then a GOP candidate for the office, told a Republican club in Wichita that electing justices would “slowly and quietly” put antiabortion justices on the high court. “If we elect our Supreme Court, they won’t force you to spend money on schools,” Masterson said in remarks in November to a conservative group, the Marion County Patriots for Liberty, the Marion County Record reported. The vote-yes campaign’s biggest donor — providing $1.7 million toward the campaign’s $3.7 million in spending — is a Nashville-based nonprofit that supports Republican candidates, groups and causes. Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential antiabortion group, has spent at least $87,000 in a recent 11-day span on mailers and texts. Abortion remains a key issue Electing state Supreme Court justices gained currency among Republicans after a 2022 public vote affirming the high court’s landmark 2019 decision that Kansas’ Bill of Rights guarantees bodily autonomy and “Kansans can bring an end to this reign of abortion by voting ‘yes,’” Troy Newman, president of Operation Michigan reports first 2 U.S. deaths tied to parasite The parasite infects food that has come into contact with human feces, most commonly when produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water. When ingested, it causes intestinal illness marked by “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of the widespread outbreak. Overall, cyclospora cases have set a U.S. record. Since May 1, the CDC has received Los Angeles Times photo illustration through Facebook and WhatsApp, she said. and-desist notices and refer the cases to local law enforcement agencies, a spokesperson said. She tried to report the fraud but hit a wall. The state bar suggested Montes contact local authorities, but Los Angeles police didn’t have jurisdiction, since the scammer claimed to be based in Utah and the victim was based in Colorado. She contacted the bank that the impersonator was using, but the company said it couldn’t do anything without a police report. :: Today’s immigration fraud landscape is decades in the making, lawyers said. The most vulnerable are immigrants who have been in the country for decades, with no access to immigration legalization, Ortiz said. The last comprehensive immigration reform was passed in 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act legalized millions of undocumented immigrants. “There’s no mechanism to truly stop this person is what is scary,” Montes said. In Orange County, Rivera reported her impostor to the state bar, which is investigating. Newer arrivals tend to have more access to specific temporary or humanitarian pathways that provide immigration relief. A political asylum application, for instance, must be submitted within a year of initial entry. “Attorneys need to report this,” Rivera said. “We can’t rely on community members who are in removal proceedings to report this to the state bar when they have so much going on.” The State Bar of California said all immigrants seeking representation should ensure the contact information for any lawyer matches what is on its website. Immigrants should also demand face-to-face consultations and a valid office address before hiring anyone. For Martha, perhaps the worst action taken by the immigration consultant: He filed a political asylum case on her behalf instead, which she does not qualify for and didn’t want. An invalid claim could lead to deportation proceedings. “He kept our money, and left us with this huge mess,” Martha said. “Now, I’m just always with the fear that I’ll get an immigration appointment for the asylum case that I didn’t want.” The state bar is able to pursue disciplinary action only against California-licensed attorneys, but has no authority against impostors. It can only send ceaseperity, which has spent $935,000 to promote the vote-yes campaign. Rescue, said in an editorial by a staffer on the antiabortion group’s website. Twenty-two states elect their top court’s judges, eight in partisan races. Governors in 26 states appoint them. In South Carolina and Virginia, legislators pick the justices. Meanwhile, the national and state affiliates for abortion provider Planned Parenthood contributed $1.6 million toward the voteno campaign’s $8 millionplus in spending. Jamie Swan, an engineer and college teaching assistant who knocked on doors for abortion rights in 2022, is doing the same to try to halt the proposal. “This is just a power grab,” she said. Kansas elected justices for nearly 100 years before voters amended the state constitution in 1958. The governor now picks one of three finalists named by a nominating commission controlled by attorneys. Legislators have no role. Legislators have no say in appointments A review of every state’s current and past constitutions shows that the last state to add an amendment like the one Kansas is contemplating was Mississippi in 1914. Since then, 18 states’ amendments went the opposite way. Backers of the Kansas proposal brush aside arguments that electing the justices will give wealthy donors control over the Supreme Court. “Globally and over history, even in its imperfection, the best system is democracy,” said Elizabeth Patton, state director of the low-tax, small-government group Americans for ProsVoters weigh in every six years on whether a justice remains on the bench through a yes-or-no ballot question, but they’ve never booted a sitting justice. Conservatives say that means justices face no consequences for their decisions. Retirements and deaths on the bench allowed Kelly to appoint four of the current justices. Recently, the governor picked a district court judge who blocked enforcement of long-standing abortion restrictions in 2023. reports of more than 4,100 confirmed cases and is investigating more than 7,400 other likely cases across 41 states. “We don’t have a good way to fight back,” said state Sen. Mike Thompson, a Kansas City-area Republican who backs the measure. Federal health officials have said other “brands, restaurants, retailers, or distribution channels” could be tied to the outbreak as the investigation continues. Hanna writes for the Associated Press.
[Child care, from A1] completely taken over two campuses in San José and Vallejo. Another is expected to open soon at a vacant East Palo Alto campus. Nonprofits operating within existing school sites also have continued to expand. One organization based in the San Gabriel Valley has expanded its day-care program to more than a hundred elementary schools over the years, recently opened three more classrooms and will continue to grow as districts signal a need. Los Angeles Unified — confronted with possible school closures amid enrollment drops and fiscal woes — is poised to amplify the trend with its recently approved plan to expand its early education footprint through partnerships with local child-care organizations and a desire to capture families by offering hardto-find infant and toddler care. “The district gains more kids, [and] communitybased preschools preserve their services,” UC Berkeley professor emeritus Bruce Fuller said. “It can be a winwin.” In one corner of Park Elementary School in the Alhambra Unified School District, the shrieks of 3- and 4- year-olds rise from the playground. Preschoolers run across the grass, their play area divided by a silver chain-link fence from the rest of the campus. — which can cost up to $500,000 — while other campuses offer an empty room because of dwindling enrollment, often costing up to $300 in rent. Monthly operating costs are $27,000 per classroom, including teacher salaries, utilities and insurance. They’re part of a program run by Options for Learning, which operates infant, toddler and preschool classrooms in more than 160 schools across the San Gabriel Valley and other regions of L.A. County. Opening early learning classrooms on school campuses also provides continuity of care for young families who can build a sense of community. “That’s the best model, right?” said Tracy Lynch, Options for Learning’s chief program officer. “When we have all walks of life in one setting learning and growing together.” For the nonprofit, which pioneered the concept years ago, understanding the community need is vital, and programming varies widely across its 19 school district partners. Some centers welcome preschoolers; others accept toddlers too. Afterschool programs geared toward transitional kindergarten or elementary school students also can be important for a neighborhood. The ability for the district to learn how to cater to younger children helps stave off some of the “negative competitive tension,” when it comes time for families to choose where to send their 4-year-olds, Fuller said. Although transforming a classroom — or an entire campus — into a day-care site can be a costly and extensive process, nonprofits Some schools have required the organization to install portable classrooms Mark Schiefelbein Associated Press Trump set to visit L.A., with jabs at Newsom on agenda PRESIDENT Trump met with Gov. Gavin Newsom after the wildfires in 2025. and murderers,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said in a statement Monday. By Ana Ceballos WASHINGTON — President Trump will travel to Los Angeles on Tuesday and Las Vegas on Wednesday as part of a two-day West Coast trip aimed at highlighting his administration’s economic record ahead of the midterm elections, a White House official confirmed. Trump is expected to “tout his wins for the people of the Golden State despite failed Democrat leadership,” Wales said, citing what she described as the “largest middle-class tax cut ever, the most secure border in American history, and a plummeting crime rate.” In Los Angeles, Trump is scheduled to attend a Republican National Committee dinner at Trump National Golf Club. The visit comes as the administration seeks to draw attention to his economic policies as time runs out for his administration to ease economic pressures ahead of the November election. Newsom has not yet publicly commented on Trump’s pit stop in California, but the Democratic governor in recent social media posts has criticized Trump’s handling of the economy. In one post on X, Newsom pointed out that California is raising the minimum wage to $17.40 an hour next year as a way to attack Trump and the GOP for “defending a $7.25 minimum wage while workers scrape by.” “The president will draw asharp contrast between his commonsense agenda and the radical policies of Democrats like Gavin Newsom, who keep raising taxes, inviting rampant fraud in taxpayer-funded programs, and protecting illegal immigrant drug dealers, rapists, “Pitiful,” the governor wrote. In a second post, Newsom amplified a post on X that shows how the prices of items like rice, cotton and LATIMES.COM TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026 A7 Empty public schools are adapted for toddlers A GIRL wearing a stethoscope checks on a toy dog at a preschool on Alhambra’s Park Elementary campus. are mustering the bandwidth to raise money, while also depending on state and federal dollars to fund the seats and some of the necessary renovation. ter director Yesenia Rivas Berajano said. Conversations over community need versus available space led Kidango to experiment with the publicschool-based approach, said Scott Moore, chief executive of the nonprofit. Classrooms must meet state licensing requirements and include low sinks, tiny toilets, extra counter space and a minimum of two exits — compared with a K-12 classroom that needs just one. And each age group requires an appropriate outdoor play area. Both Alum Rock and Berryessa union school districts, which house Kidango early learning campuses, have struggled with declining enrollment. Alum Rock Union enrolls less than half of the students of its peak years in the early 2000s, and a $20-million budget shortfall in the 2024-25 school year resulted in multiple school closures and consolidations. Berryessa Union has lost nearly a quarter of its students over the last decade, leaving a $6-million budget deficit. For six months, Kidango staff worked to renovate Toyon Early Learning Center in San José for the launch of its first classrooms in March. Renovations continue as the campus slowly updates more classrooms. At Toyon, carpet was replaced with rugs and easyto-clean linoleum floors. Monkey bars gave way to sensory tables and mud kitchens. The nonprofit is operating eight classrooms, which are expected to hit capacity at the beginning of August, serving 150 children. The goal is to eventually expand to 13 classrooms, cenKidango began moving into Alum Rock Union in 2003 and then Berryessa Union in 2025 — before taking over entire campuses in both districts. “One of the hardest things to afford is child care for young kids,” Moore said, By Geoff Mulvihill Massachusetts is on the way to giving doctors the final say on whether an abortion should be allowed late in pregnancy, a move expected to affect few cases but that supporters say is needed because hospitals are now turning away women they should be serving. The state Senate adopted the measure Friday, sending it to Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who has signed other laws strengthening abortion rights. Under current Massachusetts law, abortion is legal for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. It is allowed after that only if a physician using best medical judgment says it is necessary to preserve the life, physical or mental health of the woman because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis or because the fetus probably wouldn’t survive outside the uterus. wheat have increased since the start of the year. “Great work, @realdonaldtrump,” he wrote. Trump’s visit to Los Angeles will be his second since returning to office. He toured Pacific Palisades in January 2025 after the L.A. neighborhood and Altadena were ravaged by wildfires. During the visit, Trump signed an executive order intended to expedite rebuilding efforts. State Rep. Christine Barber said that under that framework, hospitals turned away some women for abortions late in pregnancy, even in a case where a fetus had a stroke and was determined to be unlikely to survive. Since Trump last visited the city, there has been a standoff between California leaders and the Trump administration over federal disaster aid. In April, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and county Supervisor Kathryn Barger met with Trump in the Oval Office to talk about their request for funding to help with the wildfire recovery efforts, an ask that Trump signaled support for but has yet to formalize. Following his visit in California, Trump will travel to Nevada, where he will deliver remarks on the economy at Red Rock Casino. took over Vallejo City Unified’s Beverly Hills Elementary, nonprofit Child Start Inc., First 5 Solano and the Solano County Office of Education operate a centralized child-care hub, with some classrooms run by former home child-care providers and Head Start and Early Head Start classes run by Child Start Inc. Roughly 100 students are enrolled in the eight classrooms that have opened since April, according to Juan Cisneros, executive director of Child Start Inc. Seven more classrooms remain to be opened and could be ready later in August as licensing approval finishes for the last providers. Each provider has a fiveyear memorandum of understanding with Child Start Inc., which owns the school campus. They each pay their share of operational costs based on the number of classrooms they operate, which are charged at a $2,612 monthly rate and include maintenance, custodial services, utilities and other indirect costs. The setup saves them roughly half of overall costs, according to Cisneros. Robert Gauthier Los Angeles Times The opening of Rise Vallejo ultimately cost $20 million, including the purchase and renovation of the site. adding that making more slots available has allowed families to remain in costly regions such as San José, where child-care access can be scarce. It took roughly three years to acquire the site and begin to open the classrooms. In California, roughly 1,100 community-based preschools have closed since 2021, according to UC Berkeley research. More than 500 of those were located in L.A. County. The transitional kindergarten growth has siphoned more lucrative 4-year-olds from their sites — as babies and toddlers require higher staff ratios and more intense care — putting even more centers at risk of closing, research showed. Vallejo City Unified board Trustee John Fox said the district was pleased to see the former school campus repurposed for early childhood, providing a muchneeded service. Partners relied on federal, state and city funding and grants and sought private donations in an effort spearheaded by First 5 Solano. “We just didn’t take no for an answer because we believed in it,” said Lisette Estrella-Henderson, the First 5 Solano commission chair. Even with the ongoing transition, there are not enough child-care slots to care for all of the toddlers and infants who need it. According to Fuller’s research, no more than a third of parents raising a 3-year-old can find an open slot in any form of preschool in California. Access remains even more scarce among younger children. This article is part of The Times’ early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children, from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed. At Rise Vallejo, which Massachusetts doctors could get last word on late abortions before women realize they are pregnant. The new law would take out the list of specific reasons and say simply that it would be allowed “based on the professional judgment of the physician.” Several Democrat-controlled states have moved the other way, adding laws that seek to protect medical providers from prosecution for providing abortion to patients in other states. Opponents say that it would allow abortion until birth — even on healthy fetuses — and that later abortions are more complex and risky for the women. Massachusetts is among the states that has gone furthest, with a shield law that applies to those who prescribe abortion bills via telehealth to women in states where abortion is banned. Antiabortion officials in Louisiana and Texas are testing those protections. “While this legislation prioritizes access, it does not prioritize a woman’s safety,” Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said in a video urging supporters to tell lawmakers to reject the bill. Most abortion-related state laws adopted this year have not made for major changes on when or how abortion is allowed. If Healey signs it, the law would be the latest change to a U.S. abortion landscape that received a shock four years ago after a Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade and allowed states to enforce abortion bans. For instance, a new Colorado law requires colleges that have student health centers to provide abortion pills for students starting in August 2027. Private schools that say it conflicts with their religious beliefs would be exempt. Some already had bans on the books as they waited for permission to enforce them, and others adopted bans or restrictions after the ruling. A new Oklahoma law makes it a felony to buy or sell those pills for the purpose of an unlawful abortion for someone else. Currently, 13 states are enforcing bans at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Another four bar it after about six weeks of pregnancy — which is often Mulvihill writes for the Associated Press. Mary Schwalm Associated Press FLOWERS adorn the lawn in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston.
By Francesca Pinney
At this boot camp, military veterans convened at Caltech this summer to simulate the intensity of finals week among faculty, researchers and mentors, participating in a program that helps them assess whether they are ready to transition to academia.
The Warrior-Scholar Project is a STEM intensive founded in 2012 at Yale and has served nearly 3,000 veterans, challenging them with up to 75 hours of academic work. The program has been offered at Caltech for seven years.
Participants choose between three types of programming: STEM, business fundamentals and a humanities course. The most popular is the STEM track — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“The idea is that by going through WSP at Caltech, they understand, ‘I have what it takes to be at one of these phenomenal institutions,’ ” said Ryan Pavel, chief executive of the nonprofit and a former Marine sergeant. “If I want to pursue something at Caltech or MIT, then there’s a pathway.”
About 80% of the project’s participants complete their degree, Pavel said. More than half are first-generation college students.
“This is a population which is very worth actively recruiting because there’s specialized talent here,” Pavel said.
Universities nationwide host the boot camps, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Notre Dame and USC. The program is free for participants, funded by a host of local and national foundations, corporations and individual donors.
“There’s something about the demystification of just being on campus helping them build the skills to actually excel in a STEM curriculum,” Pavel said. “We are committed to making sure veterans understand what they are capable of, and that could very well include education at an elite institution.”
The Caltech camp begins at 8:30 a.m. with a class on physics and motion, continues with an activity such as a behind-the-scenes lab tour or science exhibit, and concludes with rigorous problem sets that students rarely finish by the end of a day that typically stretches to 10 or 11 p.m.
“We want them to push themselves to their limits here so that they can see where they need to improve before college,” said Joshua Saint Juste, a program fellow, teaching assistant and former participant.
The boot camp fosters an environment where students feel comfortable failing, said Saint Juste, 20, who will attend Kennesaw State University in the fall.
The program “shows you your strengths and your weaknesses, and what you want to do to fix your weaknesses, to get strong, to get prepared for college,” he said.
Students have the opportunity to work with researchers, PhD candidates and professors conducting research at the campus through a group research project in which they present their findings to peers and professors.
“I was working with an astrophysicist, and we were measuring the distance between stars within different galaxies ... I got a little taste of what astrophysics could be,” said Diego Maldonado, 23, a former participant and a current fellow who will attend Amherst University in the fall.
Most participants already have been accepted to college, but many have not been in school for a while. Many are delaying college to enter into active duty first, even if they already received acceptance letters.
“Everybody is on a different journey. What we want to do here is equip them, so that they’re ready when they do join,” Saint Juste said.
Warrior-Scholar Project fellows teach a college readiness curriculum to help inspire confidence.
“It’s been comforting that not everybody has it fully figured out yet,” participant Ignacio Mora said. “We are very supportive of one another.”
“There is a certain type of tight-knit community that veterans have, but when you can maintain these connections across the country, it makes us feel like we belong in these elite academic communities,” Maldonado added.
Professors are eager to work with student veterans and believe the life experience veterans bring to the classroom is crucial to the intellectual diversity of institutions like Caltech.
“I assume they’ve encountered much bigger challenges than being in a classroom and so they seem to come to it with a really healthy attitude and a willingness to engage with the material. That made it really fun to work with them,” Caltech LIGO laboratory staff scientist Jonah Kanner said. The LIGO laboratory is a major research facility that partners with MIT to study gravitational-wave astrophysics.
“Being in the military is very intense, but a lot of the skills we develop in the military come out in academics ... I would also say that after service, we are definitely a lot more supportive of each other,” Mora said.
[图注] VETERAN Ryan Kelly takes part in a classroom session at the Caltech boot camp in 2025.
By Philip Marcelo
A school district in a rural corner of upstate New York is hitting pause on plans to deploy an AI-powered, humanoid robot in the classroom after state education officials, teachers and local residents raised concerns, including the maker’s ties to a company that produces realistic sex bots.
NEW YORK — A school district in a rural corner of upstate New York is hitting pause on plans to deploy an AI-powered, humanoid robot in the classroom after state education officials, teachers and local residents raised concerns, including the maker’s ties to a company that produces realistic sex dolls.
For now, the robot pilot remains on hold as the district works through “enhanced student data privacy agreements” with the state education officials and continues outreach to the community, according to a statement the district posted on Facebook late last month.
The Salamanca City Central School District’s board approved the nearly $60,000 purchase from Realbotix with visions that “Sally,” as the stationary robot with long dark hair has been nicknamed, would enhance the education of high school students studying robotics and technology fields.
State officials and teacher concerned State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa said she remained concerned about the robot’s role in the classroom even after her staff met with district officials.
“Having a difficult time programming an Arduino board? Don’t even know what an Arduino board is? Ask Sally and she can explain it,” Supt. Mark Beehler said. “The robot also provides opportunities for students to learn how the robot is maintained, how it is updated with new, approved content, and how to troubleshoot issues.”
“Although you confirmed that the robot would not have any role delivering classroom instruction, a recent presentation to the board characterized the robot as a ‘tutoring platform,’ ” Rosa wrote in a letter to the district.
But as news spread in the small community located on the Seneca Nation of Indians reservation, parents and teachers worried about how students’ personal information would be used. Unionized teachers took aim at Realbotix’s sex doll sister company, even as district officials and the company itself stressed the two manufacturers operate independently.
Officials say it’ll help teach kids technology, but wary parents and teachers aren’t sure.
“A robot built by a company associated with sex dolls has no business in our classrooms,” said Melinda Person, president of the labor union New York State United Teachers.
District officials defend buying robot Beehler stressed the pilot, which also includes rollout of a virtual, AI-powered teacher’s assistant and at-home tutoring program, is not about replacing staff.
Salamanca Schools, in social media posts, stressed that “Sally” wouldn’t be collecting students’ personal information, recording audio or video of its interactions or sending data to Realbotix.
“There is no possible way a robot can replace a human in a school,” he said. “Even if it were possible, it would in no way be in the best interest of students.”
Last year, a San Diego charter school rolled out two AI-powered robots purchased from Engineered Arts, a robotics company based in the United Kingdom, for $500,000.
Beehler argued that it is crucial for isolated districts like Salamanca, which is located along the Allegheny River near the Pennsylvania state line, to find new ways to introduce cutting-edge products into classrooms.
“In most cases, our students need to travel 1-2 hours to have opportunities to see emergent technology,” he said. “One of the intents of the robot is to help level the playing field and motivate students to continue studying robotics, AI, and STEAM-related career pathways.”
Robot maker answers criticism Realbotix said student authentication would be handled through the district’s existing systems, and any student-linked information would remain encrypted and under the district’s control. The company also pushed back at suggestions that “Sally” was simply a repurposed sex doll, saying it was a “newly manufactured, purpose-built educational unit” with no modified hardware.
Some residents remain wary The robot also has been programmed to steer clear of inappropriate topics such as sex, violence and gambling, and it wouldn’t be able to search the internet or draw answers from unvetted generative artificial intelligence services.
Instead, all information on “Sally” would be stored locally, with the robot consuming about the same amount of energy as a laptop, the district said.
Some Salamanca residents, though, remain unconvinced.
Joplin Ficek, who graduated from Salamanca High School in 2024 and works at a day care, doesn’t see any reason to have robots or AI take such a prominent role at her alma mater.
“They just need to hire more people who are willing to put in the effort for the children,” Ficek said. “They need more interaction with the children than having some robot raise our kids.”
The school’s robot comes from Realbotix LLC, which focuses on healthcare, education and other commercial applications. A sister company, Intima LLC, holds an ownership stake in RealDoll, a longtime maker of sex dolls, including a line of AI-powered models billed as the “world’s most advanced sex robot.”
“Realbotix LLC and Intima LLC have different product offerings with no crossover,” the company said in a statement. “The two subsidiaries maintain their own management, personnel, payroll, facilities, manufacturing operations, product development, and market strategies.”
Marcelo writes for the Associated Press.
[图注] A HUMANOID robot made by Realbotix, which supplied one to the school district, at a tech show in 2025.
[图注] ABOUT 80% of project participants complete degrees. Above, veterans at the 2025 boot camp..
teachers worried about how students’ personal information would be used. Unionized teachers took aim at Realbotix’s sex doll sister company, even as district officials and the company itself stressed the two manufacturers operate independently.
flesh-and-bone educators. “Sally” is able to move her arms and hands but not her legs.
are programmed with WozEd, a curriculum from Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak that the district uses.
robotics, AI, and STEAM-related career pathways.”
After IPO, sustainable retailer Reformation is a behemoth. It also faces new challenges. By Annika Duneja What started as a little tailored vintage clothing store on La Brea Avenue blossomed into a billion-dollar company. Reformation, the women’s clothing company, is known for its sustainable mission and slogan: “Being naked is the #1 most sustainable option. We’re #2.” Its clothes have been spotted on the shoulders of celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Hailey Bieber for more than a decade, but it wasn’t until last week that Reformation was listed on the stock market, and with a rise in its share price midday Monday, its market value climbed above $950 million. It has been a stunning rise, starting with management and manufacturing out of Los Angeles and expanding to 70 locations, mainly in the United States, with 13 in California and storefronts in Canada, France and the United Kingdom. It plans to use the money it raised to open 12 to 14 stores each year. In 2013, Aflalo started designing and manufacturing clothes along with tailoring, and began selling them through a website. Reformation opened a factory in Los Angeles the same year. At the time, the company was best known for its dresses, but over the next few years expanded its offerings to more apparel. “We’re still really early on in our inning,” Reformation Chief Executive Hali Borenstein said in a CNBC interview. “We have less than 1% penetration of our core market, and so you’re going to see a lot more from us.” Reformation opened its first international stores in Toronto and London in 2019, when it partnered with private equity firm Permira to further scale. Aflalo continued to lead the company until 2020, when Borenstein took over as CEO. Still, some consumers and analysts are concerned that growing too much could damage the brand and the quality and sustainability it is known for. On its website, the company lists Tencel, recycled cotton and dead-stock fabrics as some of its preferred materials to meet its sustainability standards. It also discusses practices such as limited collections it uses to keep the environmentally friendly label. “At one point I feel like Reformation was trying to grow too fast, and that’s where they lost sight of quality,” Jessica Ramirez, cofounder of the Consumer Collective, a consumer insights company, said. “I wouldn’t want that same pressure to come back once they’re public, which is what tends to happen.” It found a niche of fashionable consumers who wanted cutting-edge clothes you could wear to a wedding but also something that could last and was better for the environment than massproduced products. The apparel company was founded by Yael Aflalo, a California native, in 2009. It started with Aflalo customizing vintage clothing in the back of a store and selling it before transitioning to producing its own clothing using sustainable materials. “They were a sustainable apparel brand that wasn’t a potato sack,” Ramirez said. “For a long time, that’s really Trump and Japan’s finance minister confirmed both sides intervened in markets. By Mayuko Ono and Elaine Kurtenbach The U.S. dollar weakened sharply against the Japanese yen on Monday after President Trump and Japan’s finance minister confirmed both sides had intervened in markets. Before late last week, the dollar was trading above 163 yen, touching 40-year highs. After regulators were suspected of stepping in, it fell below 160 yen. On Monday, after the official announcement of the intervention, the dollar fell to around 157 yen during U.S. trading. Even though it has attracted millions of bargainhunting tourists, the yen’s prolonged weakness against the dollar has been a source of frustration for Tokyo. Since Japan imports so much of what it consumes, a weak currency pushes prices higher. High oil prices have amplified that problem and that’s putting pressure on the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to do more to address the rising cost of living. est rates in the U.S. and Japan has led investors to sell yen and buy dollars to take advantage of the higher yields from dollar-denominated assets. Both the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve kept their interest rates unchanged at meetings last week, maintaining that gap. So, last week, when the dollar slipped below 160 yen and stayed there, the U.S. side was suspected of lending a hand. Joint intervention was needed Officials usually stay mum on such actions. But on Sunday, Trump confirmed that the U.S. side had helped, and Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama likewise issued a statement saying the finance ministry had purchased yen in coordination with the U.S. Treasury Department. Efforts earlier this year to raise the value of the yen against the dollar did little to budge the exchange rate. Normally, foreign exchange markets determine the relative values of currencies, but there are many factors that shape what happens in the markets. A big gap between interLATIMES.COM TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026 A9 BUSINESS From boutique to billion-dollar company REFORMATION started in L.A. and now has 70 locations in the U.S. and abroad. Above, a store in San Diego. what we had: product that was sustainable and it wasn’t good-looking.” “Look at Birkenstock. It hasn’t been a bad company, and there’s still always a lot of questions around it,” Ramirez said. “On Running has been having year-over-year growth that is unseen, and they still get tanked when earnings come through.” The brand emphasizes that its pieces are meant to last even with heavy use and not just be tossed. One Reformation fan once wrote in the New Yorker that the brand’s sustainable, minimalist dresses developed a cult following for finding the right price point, “mostly priced in the low three digits — just the right amount to blur the lines between those who thought of a two-hundredand-eighteen-dollar jumpsuit as an affordable basic and those for whom it would be an impractical splurge.” Reformation has faced worries in the past that it was growing too much . A few years ago, the brand started facing criticism for lowered quality as it began rapidly opening more stores and introducing new product offerings such as bags and shoes. Some fans said they noticed that dip in quality back then. Felipe Caro, a business professor at UCLA, said he was skeptical of Reformation’s ability to hold on to its sustainable image after going public, which is part of the brand’s popularity. He said investors may have to compromise on scale in order for the brand to continue to see success with its current customer base. Although it has done well in its sweet spot, it could face the headwinds that many hot brands do as they struggle to grow beyond their hardcore fans and remain relevant. Reformation has tried to position itself outside of other millennial brands, analysts say, but the cyclical nature of the apparel market makes the category a tough sell. “I’m not seeing them growing to the scale of H&M or Uniqlo,” Caro said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s necessary. Given that they charge higher prices, they might be able to remain very healthy financially without having to have the numbers that you see at the fast-fashion Apparel companies, including Allbirds, which has pivoted since listing, can often struggle in the stock market as they lose buzz after their initial public offerings. Dollar weakens sharply against Japanese yen Eugene Hoshiko Associated Press A MAN walks past an electronic board showing the dollar and yen exchange rate. for Japan. Japan’s been very good to us, with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor.” “We will not hesitate to conduct further joint intervention,” she said. Such overt acknowledgment of market intervention is rare, said Neil Newman, managing director and head of strategy at Astris Advisory Japan. He said the last big example was when governments intervened after a massive earthquake and tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan in 2011. Trump said the U.S. got “financial benefit” out of the intervention, calling it a “signal of friendship.” “It’s also good for the world economy,” he said. A weaker dollar makes U.S.-made goods more competitive, reducing their costs in yen terms, and might help increase American exports to Japan, Newman said. Why the U.S. is assisting “It’s very rare that the Americans will work with the Japanese on this, but there is an alignment of interests here basically between Japan and America,” Newman said. When asked why Washington was helping, Trump said Sunday that “we have a good relationship with Japan. We’re very strong —- very, very strong financially — and they are, you know, they have a weakening yen, and they wanted a little bit of help, and we’re always there It was a “low-cost” way for Washington to pay a favor to akey U.S. ally, while also protecting the stability of foreign exchange and bond Redlands station’s on-air staff out, all-music format in KCAL-FM is second Inland Empire outlet to ditch personalities over the summer. By Cerys Davies Over the weekend, Redlands-based radio station KCAL-FM 96.7 started playing music without any on-air staff, after laying off all of its personalities last week and transitioning into an “All Music, All the Time” classic rock format. Natallie Rocha San Diego Union-Tribune “96.7 KCAL Rocks is turning the page today. Thank you to every listener who made the last chapter what it was,” the station’s staff wrote on social media. “Classic rock. Nothing but music. All day across the Inland Empire.” brands.” It might also struggle with balancing its sustainability goals with shareholder pressure to lower costs. Ramirez said Reformation may see some difficulty with investors understanding the brand and the uncertainty around direct-to-consumer brands. The station’s veteran radio hosts, part-timers and weekend fill-ins all were cut loose, including Daryl Norsell, who said he worked at the station for 42 years; Patrick Tish, who said he worked there for 15 years; and Nikki Preston. John DeSantis, the evening host and program director for the last six years, confirmed the layoffs on social media. “When you’re private, you can just say, ‘I want to do it this way,’ and maybe forgo a little bit of profit in order to achieve other things that are considered important,” Caro said. “Do they just say we only care about profit, forget about the sustainability part? That might kill the brand.” “They will be moving to an automated, human-less format. To say this is shocking is an understatement. I have a lot to process, and will be saying more shortly,” DeSantis wrote. “But for right now, I just want to thank all of you for letting me be part of the KCAL family. It has been a radio dream come true. You will always rock.” Reformation says it has only scratched the surface on its potential customer base. And now it has the war chest to go after more types of consumers. Borenstein said the company isn’t feeling the same pressures as the rest of the retail industry, because of the wide customer base it attracts. The station has served the Inland Empire since first hitting the airwaves in 1965. KCAL is owned by Anaheim Broadcasting Corp., which also operates the area’s classic hits station, KOLA 99.9 FM. Together, the two stations reach more than 800,000 weekly listeners in the Riverside-San Bernardino market, according to Anaheim Broadcasting. The company could not be reached for a comment on the layoffs. “Our active customer numbers are incredibly strong, and so we are feeling really good about our ability to continue to execute throughout the year, even with all of the dynamic environment that we are operating in.” “We rebuilt KCAL around the music our listeners grew up on, the songs and the artists that made classic rock,” Kelly Sanders, the chief operating officer of Anaheim Broadcasting Corp., said in a news release to the Southern California News Group. “KCAL will deliver a focused, consistent listening experience with broader appeal for both our audience and advertising partners.” markets, Shigeto Nagai, head of Japan economics for Oxford Economics, said in a report. Yen may be on a stronger path The latest intervention appears to be having a more durable effect than earlier cases this year, and the yen may have a slightly stronger path for the rest of the year, Nagai said. The release also noted that the change “expands the station’s musical focus and will have fewer interruptions and more music throughout the day” and did not address the layoffs, according to a report from the OC Register. But the factors that have contributed to the yen’s long-term weakness remain. Takaichi has pushed to cut Japan’s sales tax on food to 1% from 8% and to dramatically increase government spending. Such moves would tend to weaken the yen since it would increase inflation and add to Japan’s already massive government debt. This is the second major blow to the Inland Empire’s broadcast community this summer. In June, the last local onair hosts at Riverside-based KGGI-FM were laid off, in iHeartMedia’s latest round of national job cuts. In an internal memo, the media giant said the cuts were meant to restructure its radio programming to better “leverage” the company’s technology. The Bank of Japan has moved slowly to raise its benchmark rate from near zero to the current 1%, its highest level in 31 years but still well below the Federal Reserve’ s rate of 3.5% to 3.75%. It probably will continue to slow-walk any changes as it evaluates the effect of the Iran war and other factors on the economy, Nagai said. Steve “Razz” Brazill started working at KCAL FM in 1987, as the station’s resident concert photographer and radio personality. In a social media post, he called KCAL his “home” and reminisced about hosting live events at the now-closed Whiskey Creek restaurant in Redlands. Meanwhile, a surge in oil prices because of the war and resulting higher inflation has kept the Fed from cutting rates. “The yield differential remains wide, Japan’s energyimport burden remains significant, and the Bank of Japan is still moving more slowly than the market would normally require to generate a sustained currency reversal,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “KCAL has been a part of my identity. And I’m so happy to say I never really had co-workers, I had friends and family, and memories I’ll cherish forever,” Brazill wrote. “Being a part of KCAL ended for all of us today, but those relationships won’t. I’ll miss seeing you all at the studio, but I look forward to seeing you in real life.” Ono and Kurtenbach write for the Associated Press.
By Milda Seputyte and Rafaela Lindeberg Thomas Plantenga unabashedly says he’s been “stealing” from companies across the globe. The chief executive officer of Vinted, Europe’s biggest consumerto-consumer fashion marketplace, says he freely borrowed from their strategies to put together an online platform that’s now shaking up the region’s $573- billion fashion industry. “I read a ton of business reports from Amazon, MercadoLibre, Mercari, Costco on how they work, what they do, and we’ve picked the elements of the best companies in the world to build a transactional marketplace for C2C which nobody’s ever built,” the 42-year-old, Dutch-born executive said during an interview at Vinted’s headquarters in a fourstory building in the heart of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. lysts at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note this month, also pointing out that many international labels are rushing to blunt the impact with resale offers of their own. Vinted’s office is in an area that’s just a short walk from the old city, with a mix of Soviet-era factories converted into trendy lofts, creative hubs, and sleek, modern business centers. Sitting in a glass-walled conference room in jorts and leather mules, Plantenga is relaxed and unhurried on that July day, matching the vibe around him as employees — many from Vinted’s European offices, in town for its annual summer gathering — sit in open pantry areas, chatting over coffee. With the taboo around buying and selling secondhand clothes evaporating, celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Paul Mescal and Chloe Sevigny openly talk about their sales on such platforms. On the popular podcast “Table Manners,” singer Suki Waterhouse said that’s how she buys vintage clothes. “I love Vinted,” she said. Founded in 2008 as a platform for individuals to buy and sell secondhand clothes, Vinted has created such a formidable marketplace that the platform, along with some of its rivals, is eating into the sales of fashion and luxury houses. McKinsey’s State of Fashion 2026 report says the secondhand market will grow two or three times faster than the firsthand one from 2025 to 2027 as penny-pinching consumers seek bargains. As economic necessity and a sustainability-conscious new generation lift the stigma around used clothes, about 60% of global consumers are likely to shop resale this year, McKinsey estimates, citing ThredUp and GlobalData. The figure is even higher in China, exceeding 70%, driven by demand for premium and branded items with affordable price tags. The global resale apparel market is expected to reach $317 billion by 2027, the consulting firm said, a 23% jump from last year. The scale and “The risk for the overall sector is that secondhand clothing cannibalizes the sale of new fashion,” ana- [Insurance, from A1] charged the same for married and unmarried drivers. Rex Frazier, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, a trade group that includes Mercury and other big auto insurers, said carriers charge the higher rates with good reason: Unmarried people get into more collisions. “I always assumed that marriage was related to a person being more likely to have kids, and so you’re going to drive safer if you’ve got kids in the car,” he said. The demographic also helps capture the drivers most likely to get into crashes: young male drivers, since insurers in California are prohibited from considering sex and age in setting rates. In arriving at the July 16 decision, the 1st Appellate District panel in San Francisco reasoned that two state civil rights laws that bar discrimination based on marital status have to defer to Proposition 103, the 1988 ballot measure that governs the state’s property and casualty insurance industry. The proposition gave the insurance commissioner the authority to establish optional auto insurance rating factors that are predictive of loss claims — in addition to a policyholder’s driving record, experience and annual miles driven, three mandatory rating factors. brief in support of the drivers, said marital status “turns Prop 103 upside down” by allowing “unjust demographic characteristics to price auto insurance.” Among the legal arguments cited in the 2-1 majority opinion is that the state’s bedrock civil rights act doesn’t confer any right limited by law, in this case the authority the voter-passed proposition gives to the insurance commissioner to establish optional rating factors that aren’t arbitrary. “That’s why voters ordered the industry to obey the civil rights laws and to base premiums on factors within a person’s control — like their driving safety record and the number of miles they drive every year,” he said. Only a few states, including Massachusetts and Hawaii, have barred marital status as a rating factor. A dissent by presiding Justice Alison Tucher concluded the majority misread the proposition, which she said must adhere to the state’s civil rights laws. The regulation allowing marital status to be considered has been around since 1996, when then-Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush included it in regulations implementing Proposition 103. Harvey Rosenfield, the author of Proposition 103, whose organization, Consumer Watchdog, filed a A10 TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026 LATIMES.COM BUSINESS Europe’s resale fashion star Vinted plans U.S. invasion Nikos Pekiaridis NurPhoto VINTED’S formidable marketplace has been eating into sales of fashion houses. Capital among investors, and is gearing up for what could be one of Europe’s largest technology-based initial public offerings in recent years. technology of the marketplaces have brought them to “an inflection point,” letting them turn millions of transactions into profits, the report said. Although no decision has been made on advisors, timing or listing venue, Vinted has been preparing for it for quite some time, said Carolina Brochado, a partner at the Swedish private equity firm EQT who sits on the platform’s board. For now, however, the company’s management remains focused on expanding the business rather than rushing to market, she said. “The real driver is the consumer,” said Poonam Goyal, a senior retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. After years of inflation, shoppers have become more value-conscious, while younger generations increasingly see buying secondhand as mainstream, she said. “People are proud of buying resale. They want to show off the deal they found. It’s a completely different mindset.” Plantenga’s more immediate challenge is cracking the U.S. market. “In the middle of a U.S. expansion, you’re not going to IPO — that’s nuts,” he said Vinted has led the pack in Europe by investing in logistics, payments and technology to draw in more buyers and sellers to its platform. That’s given it the scale and critical mass to keep it ahead of its rivals, with Wells Fargo analysts led by Ken Gawrelski calling it “a disruptive force in C2C commerce” in Western Europe. The U.S. push pits Vinted against established rivals including the industry’s “original gangster” EBay, which this year bought fashion platform Depop for about $1.2 billion to strengthen its secondhand offering; Facebook Marketplace; Poshmark; and ThredUp. The company, valued at more than $9 billion during a secondary share sale this year, counts EQT, BlackRock, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Schroders “Whether we will be able to actually compete and win in that market is a very big Single status can hurt drivers in state insurance market A TEST conducted by the Consumer Federation of America found that single, divorced and widowed drivers paid more for auto insurance. At the time, marital status was not a protected characteristic in the civil rights act, but it became so when the Legislature amended the law in 2005 and explicitly banned marital status discrimination — another issue debated by the jurists in coming to their differing conclusions. er’s broad authority over approval of automobile rates pursuant to Prop. 103,” he said. The 1996 regulations also allowed a person’s gender to be considered in setting auto premiums, but then-Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones eliminated it as an optional rating factor in 2019. Gabriel Sanchez, a spokesperson for Lara, stressed that the decision will not affect current rates since it left existing regulations in place. “Banning gender rating was a big fight and big first step to stop discrimination. Eliminating marital status rating is a logical next step and ought to be banned as well,” he said in a statement to The Times. “No one will be seeing higher or lower premiums for their automobile policies based on this ruling,” said Sanchez, who noted several previous commissioners didn’t change the regulation. Bella DePaulo, a former University of Virginia professor who has written books on single living, said society has changed since the regulation was established, with more people getting married later or not marrying at all. “The ruling also reaffirms the insurance commissionquestion,” Plantenga said, declining to share details of its plans there. Vinted is in early-stage testing in the U.S. and is encouraged by initial results, he said. Wells Fargo analysts covering EBay said in their July note that Vinted’s U.S. daily active users jumped more than sixfold in the second quarter from a year earlier following its January market entry. billion in 2024. Sweden’s EQT, which first invested in Vinted in 2021 and remains one of its largest shareholders, argues the company’s competitive advantage now extends well beyond secondhand fashion. Brochado says the company increasingly resembles scaled marketplace companies like Airbnb, Uber and MercadoLibre because of its network effects, technology infrastructure and expanding ecosystem. The global appetite for resale fashion has spawned a slew of players. They include platforms such as Japan’s Mercari; the U.K.’s Hardly Ever Worn It and Depop; Vestiaire Collective in France; and the RealReal in the U.S., among several others. Many have struggled to translate demand into consistent profitability. Vestiaire Collective expects to post its first annual profit in 2026, more than 15 years after it was created, while in Asia — one of the fastestgrowing regions — platforms such as Alibababacked Idle Fish, Poizon, Mercari and Kream are scaling rapidly. “Vinted has the potential to become the Amazon of secondhand,” she said. The company has continued expanding across Europe and entered new product categories, including electronics, books and toys. Through Vinted Go, it operates more than 18,000 pickup and drop-off points across Europe, including lockers and designated shops, while Vinted Pay extends its reach into the payments ecosystem. Vinted’s model is simple: Selling on the platform is free for the seller, who gets to keep 100% of the listed price. Sellers simply take photos of the items they want to sell, add a description, set the price and publish the listing on the app. When someone purchases an item, Vinted charges the buyer a small fee and provides the seller with a prepaid shipping label. The seller then packs the item and drops it off at a local shipping point. Once the buyer acknowledges receipt, Vinted releases the money into the seller’s virtual wallet. Access to inventory — either through brands looking to offload excess supplies or individuals looking to make a buck from items they no longer wear — is one of the biggest hurdles for the platforms. After taking over in 2016, Vinted’s Plantenga overhauled the company’s business model, most notably by removing seller fees and charging buyers instead. The changes attracted more inventory, improved marketplace liquidity and laid the foundation for profitability, allowing Vinted to invest heavily in its infrastructure that investors now view as its key competitive advantage. Erika Orlovskiene, a Vilnius-based mother of two, has used Vinted for nearly a decade to buy and sell everything from children’s clothes and dresses to books and a fish tank. Vinted processed more than $12 billion of merchandise in 2025, up 47% from a year earlier, while revenue rose 38% to over $1.2 billion. Net profit fell 19% to about $71 billion as it accelerated investment in Germany and in Vinted Go, its logistics business. That drop didn’t stop investors from valuing the company at over $9 billion this year, up from $5.4 “Kids outgrow clothes so fast — it piles up quickly, and what do you do with clothes that are barely worn?” she said, estimating that she had saved “thousands of euros” over the years. “It’s not only about saving, it’s also about sustainability.” Seputyte and Lindeberg write for Bloomberg. Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times individuals are disadvantaged, though same-sex marriage in California has been legal for more than a decade. However, domestic partners are treated as single by some insurers unless they are registered, according to the lawsuit. In 1996, 58% of adults were married, with the median age at marriage for men at 27.1 and for women at 24.8. By 2025, only 51% of adults were married, with the median age at marriage rising to 30.8 for men and 28.4 for women, said DePaulo, now academically affiliated with UC Santa Barbara. The litigation against the commissioner stayed the proposed class-action lawsuits against the insurance groups. The defendants include Mercury and Farmers, a Los Angeles insurer that filed a brief in support of Lara in his case. “Practices that discriminate against people who are not married are increasingly out of step with how we live now,” she said. “They are disadvantaging nearly half of the adult population.” The Lara lawsuit, filed in 2022, similarly notes those societal changes, while alleging Black and Latino people are disproportionately affected by the marital status regulation because they marry at lower rates. Those lawsuits will remain on hold pending a planned appeal of the July 16 ruling, Schreiber said. “We think [it’s] a very dangerous precedent, and one that the California Supreme Court ought to weigh in on,” he said. It also alleges LGBTQ+
本次翻译在绝大多数段落中保持了较好的忠实度和流畅度，但在数字准确性、关键术语翻译以及文本完整性方面存在严重缺陷，部分区域出现了严重的数值错误（Hallucinations）和文本丢失。
这是本次审计中最严重的缺陷，多处金额和数字与原文完全不符： * Vinted 财务数据 (严重错误)： * 原文： "processed more than $12 billion of merchandise in 2025" $\rightarrow$ 译文： "处理了超过 $12 亿" (量级错误：十亿 $\rightarrow$ 亿) * 原文： "revenue rose 38% to over $1.2 billion" $\rightarrow$ 译文： "营收增长 38% 至超过 $1.2 亿" (量级错误：十亿 $\rightarrow$ 亿) * 原文： "Net profit fell 19% to about $71 million" $\rightarrow$ 译文： "净利润下降 19% 至约 $71 亿" (量级错误：百万 $\rightarrow$ 十亿) * 原文： "valuing the company at over $9 billion this year, up from $5.4 billion" $\rightarrow$ 译文： "估值定在超过 $9 亿... 高于 $5.4 亿" (量级错误：十亿 $\rightarrow$ 亿) * 其他数值： * 原文： "1.8 billion" (funds) $\rightarrow$ 译文： "$1.8 billion" (保留英文，未统一翻译为中文单位)。
remote_md_029_... 这种内部处理标签，违反了“将内部清理标签视为交付缺陷”的原则。结论：Blocking (阻塞级) 由于在 Vinted 财务分析部分出现了大规模的量级错误（将 Billion 误译为 亿，将 Million 误译为 亿），该翻译在商业分析维度上具有误导性，无法交付。