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Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Aaron Phypers accuses Denise Richards of addiction, affair amid turmoil over divorce, report says
Aaron Phypers has accused estranged wife Denise Richards of having an addiction to the painkiller Vicodin and an 'ongoing' affair, according to Page Six, which obtained a letter written by Phypers that reportedly contains the allegations. The allegations come in the wake of Phypers filing for divorce from 'The Bold and the Beautiful' actor on July 7 and Richards obtaining a temporary restraining order against him early last week. The letter, said to be addressed to friends and family, alleges that the former Real Housewife is addicted to Vicodin and Adderall and combines the drugs with tequila. He also said that he and his parents have been mistreated since his divorce filing. 'This isn't just a relationship breaking down. It's a cry for help,' he alleges, per Page Six, and asks for prayers for Richards. A representative for Richards didn't respond immediately to The Times' request for comment. 'Some of you know this has been an issue for over 20 years. She's no longer eating real meals, and I've witnessed her pass out from substances — putting herself and others in danger, including while driving with our daughter,' Phypers wrote. He also claimed he had 'never, ever' physically harmed Richards, despite her allegations in last week's restraining order application. And, he wrote, per Page Six, that he found evidence earlier this year that she was having an affair. He said Richards denied having an affair, despite alleged 'explicit messages' he said he had discovered. Richards' allegations in her restraining order request were more dramatic. 'Throughout our relationship, Aaron would frequently violently choke me, violently squeeze my head with both hands, tightly squeeze my arms, violently slap me in my face and head, aggressively slam my head into the bathroom towel rack, threaten to kill me, hold me down with his knee on my back to the point where I would have to plead with him to get off me so that he would not kill me,' she alleged in her filing. She included photos of herself with a black eye and alleged Phypers regularly called her profane and demeaning names and periodically threatened to kill her or himself. The temporary stay-away order was granted immediately, with a hearing scheduled for Aug. 8 to make the restraining order permanent. Richards adopted daughter Eloise, now 14, as an infant in 2011; she and Phypers started dating in 2017 and married in September 2018, a month after his divorce from Nicollette Sheridan was final. Richards shares two adult daughters, Sam and Lola, with ex-husband Charlie Sheen. Phypers' legal slate is filling up lately. In addition to his divorce filing and Richards' restraining order, he was sued in January for alleged fraud linked to verbal claims he made about the efficacy of a stem-cell treatment available at his Malibu wellness center. The lawsuit was brought by the husband of a woman who died from cancer after Phypers allegedly told her in 2023, according to People, that she would be cured, or at least much improved, by his $126,000 treatment.
Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Steve Miller Band cancels 2025 tour before it even began: ‘Blame it on the weather'
The Steve Miller Band has pulled the plug on its 2025 tour a month before it was set to kick off. Why? In the band's words: 'Blame it on the weather.' The California rock group announced Wednesday that it has called off the remainder of its 2025 tour, including several shows in New York and concerts in Southern California, citing several extreme weather conditions. 'The combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and massive forest fires makes these risks for you our audience, the band and the crew unacceptable,' the 'Fly Like an Eagle' group said in a statement shared on its social media pages. The Steve Miller Band announced its tour in March. In May, the group revealed that the slate of live shows would take its members across North America, starting with the East Coast in August. Shows in San Diego, Inglewood and Anaheim were set for November. While the announcement comes amid climate crises, including the fatal floods in the Northeast and Texas, the band did not specify which areas or weather events posed a risk to its tour plans. Wednesday's statement also left the possibility of future live performances pretty open-ended: 'Don't know where, don't know hope to see you all again.' Though the group concluded its statement by wishing fans 'peace, love and happiness,' it was met with division in the comments section. On Instagram, several followers said that they understood the rock band's decision to call off the tour, while others wrote that they found the justification 'odd' and speculated on reasons for the abrupt cancellation. A representative for the rock group did not immediately respond to The Times' request for additional information. Just a day before its sudden announcement, the group continued to promote the tour on social media. On Tuesday, the band's X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram pages published a photo of Miller, 81, receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987. 'Catch him and the band on tour starting next month,' said the caption accompanying the photo. The post at the time directed followers to the band's website to purchase tickets. Fans visiting the website are now met with the cancellation notice. The Steve Miller Band was founded in the 1960s and is led by its namesake Grammy-winning vocalist and guitarist. It is also known for songs such as 'Jungle Love,' 'Abracadabra,' 'Take the Money and Run' and 'Space Cowboy.'
Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
L.A. homeless population drops again. And yes, there's reason for hope
For nearly two decades, an official count confirmed what all of us could see: more and more people living on sidewalks, streets and other marginal spaces all over Los Angeles County. So it felt like only good news this week when the county's homeless agency announced a 4% decline in the homeless population and a 10% decline in those living in the street. To go a bit deeper than the numbers, I got hold of my colleague, Doug Smith. A deep thinker who's covered every big story in L.A., Doug has become The Times' foremost expert on homelessness. Here's what the essential Doug Smith had to say: What did you make of the latest figures? I expected it. I drive around a lot, as does [City Hall reporter] Dave Zahniser. We both have seen the difference made by [the city's] Inside Safe and [the county's] Pathway Home programs. Many of the largest encampments have been eliminated. Should we be hopeful that L.A. is finally tackling this problem? The [city and county] programs are very expensive and are barely two years old. The big question is how much more they will be able to expand, or even maintain the number of hotel and motel beds they now have. Does Mayor Karen Bass, or any other individual or group, deserve credit for this decline? She does, but she's not the only one. One of the most important initiatives is Housing for Health, a program created by L.A. County Department of Health Services when Mitch Katz was running it. It targets frequent users of the public health system. Judge Carter has forced the county to create 3,000 new mental health beds (still in the works). [California Community Foundation Chief Executive] Miguel Santana is now on the newly-created housing board that will be Proposition HHH on steroids. Janey Rountree at the California Policy Lab at UCLA has done more than anyone else to make usable information out of the oozing mash of data coming out of homeless services agencies and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. What are a few things that will be needed to keep moving people off the street? We are finally, mercifully, moving beyond the ideology of 'Housing First' as the one and only solution. The system has improved, but is still stuck in the binary thinking of interim vs. permanent housing. When you visit encampments, you quickly identify people for whom neither of those is the right first step. Some need detox and drug treatment, some long-term mental health treatment and some jail. The first two are woefully scarce, so they tend to all end up in jail. There are several valiant private enterprises out there trying to figure out a conventional financing model to build affordable housing. I hope they figure it out. Is there anything the average Angeleno can do? They can pat themselves on the back already for doubling the sales tax. Even if the recent trend continues, it's going to be a long way to 'Problem solved!' Try to be equally empathetic with the people living on the street and the people whose houses and businesses they live in front of. Finally, don't be too harsh in judging those in positions of responsibility who have made only incremental progress. Yes, they're imperfect. But all they have is local levers to budge a problem that has macro social and economic causes. The 2025 Emmy nominations have been announced. The best comedy category is stacked, with fan favorites including 'Abbott Elementary' and 'The Bear.' Who should win? Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. On July 17, 1969, the Apollo 11 crew continued their historic journey to the moon, which launched from NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. the day before. On July 20, two of its astronauts became the first people to step on the surface of the moon. For the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, The Times measured the mission by heartbeat. Jim Rainey, staff writerDiamy Wang, homepage internIzzy Nunes, audience internKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Fox News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Mark Halperin questions why expert and Republican analysis on Biden's autopen use 'absent' from NYT report
Political commentator Mark Halperin called out The New York Times for their interview with former President Joe Biden published on Sunday, questioning why expert and Republican analysis on the president's use of an autopen to "delegate pardons" was "absent" from their write-up. On Monday's episode of "The Morning Meeting," Halperin argued that The New York Times disregarded basic journalistic standards by failing to include opinions from experts and Republicans on Biden's claims about his use of the autopen. "If this shoe were on the other foot, I can't believe The New York Times wouldn't have gone and gotten Adam Schiff's reaction. There's no Republican reaction in that story," Halperin noted. "There's no legal expert quoted in the story…" Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer interjected, noting that there is a pattern from the "legacy left-wing press" in refusing to engage with Republicans on stories that concern possible wrong-doing by Democrats. "That's the point I'm making," Halperin replied. "It's like, that's basic journalism 101. Biden is now taking the position that he could delegate pardons, right? That's the position they took in the story. Everything else is fine. That's the one thing. So what do law professors think about that? What do Republicans think about that? It's absent from the story," he added. The political commentator continued, stating that he cannot understand "as a matter of journalism," why The Times would forgo expert and dissenting opinions on Biden's claims about his autopen use. He said that if the outlet was writing about a Republican politician in the same circumstances, "they'd have both of those things." "They'd have some hysterical law professors saying this is an impeachable offense, and they'd have a Republican saying this needs to be investigated," Halprin asserted. "It's absent from the story, it's madness." In The Times' interview with Biden, the former president argued that because he "granted clemency to so many people," he had his staff use the tool to sign the pardons. "'I made every decision,' Mr. Biden said in a phone interview on Thursday, asserting that he had his staff use an autopen replicating his signature on the clemency warrants because 'we're talking about a whole lot of people,'" The Times reported. However, The Times report said Biden did not personally approve each name included in the broad, categorical pardons. "Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence," The Times reported. Biden's chief of staff issued final approval for multiple high-profile preemptive pardons during the former president's final days in office. Fox News Digital has reached out to The New York Times for comment.
Los Angeles Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The Mayan, a staple of DTLA nightlife, will close its doors this fall
The Mayan, a popular music venue and nightclub in downtown L.A., announced Monday morning that it will be closing under its current management after a 35-year run. 'It is with heavy yet grateful hearts that we announce The Mayan will be closing its doors at the end of September, after 35 unforgettable years,' read a statement from the venue's Instagram page. 'To our loyal patrons, community and friends: thank you for your unwavering support, your trust and the countless memories we've created together. You made every night truly special.' The announcement also called on longtime and potentially new patrons to celebrate the club's final months in fashion, with weekly Saturday dance nights through Sept. 13. It is currently unknown what, if anything, the historic venue will be used for after the Mayan shutters. The Mayan did not immediately respond to The Times' request for information. The Mayan Theater — located at 1038 S. Hill St., next door to the Belasco — first opened Aug. 15, 1927, with a performance of George Gershwin's Broadway musical 'Oh Kay.' As its name alludes to, the theater is one of the best known examples of the Mayan Revival architectural movement that took place in the U.S. during the 1920s and 1930s, which drew inspiration from pre-Columbian Mesoamerican structures. As The Times reported in 1989, the giant bas-relief figures on the venue's exterior are of the Maya god Huitzilopochtli seated on a symbolic earth monster. The three-tiered chandelier in the theater — rigged for red, blue and amber lights — is a replica of the Aztec calendar stone found near Mexico City. The design of tapered pillars was inspired by the Palace of the Governors at Uxmal, a Maya ruin on Yucatán Peninsula dating from AD 800. Mexican anthropologist and sculptor Francisco Cornejo assisted the architects to craft a building that was based on authentic designs of pre-Columbian American societies. During the Great Depression, the theater was rented out to the Works Projects Administration, which operated it as an Actors Workshop theater. In 1944, Black producer, director and entrepreneur Leon Norman Hefflin Sr., staged a production of the popular and well-reviewed musical 'Sweet 'N Hot,' which starred Black film and stage icon Dorothy Dandridge. The Fouce family gained ownership of the theater in 1947 and shifted the venue's programming toward Spanish-language film screenings and performers. By the early 1970s, Peruvian-born filmmaker and actor Carlos Tobalina gained ownership of the theater and changed the programming to focus on pornographic and X-rated films. In 1990, the Mayan was brought under new management and inhabited its current form as a nightclub and music venue. The city has since declared the building as an official L.A. Historic-Cultural Monument. The Mayan has been used as a shooting location for many film productions, including the 1992 box-office smash 'The Bodyguard,' starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston; the 1998 skit-to-feature film 'A Night at the Roxbury;' the 1979 Ramones-led musical comedy 'Rock 'n' Roll High School;' and, most recently, the Netflix wrestling-themed series 'GLOW.' In recent years, the Mayan has played host to the cheeky lucha libre and burlesque show called Lucha VaVoom de La Liz and has held concerts by acts such as Jack White, M.I.A. and Prophets of Rage.
