Home Care In Los Angeles, CA

In a major early move under new ownership, Paramount has agreed to pay $7.7 billion for media rights to UFC’s mixed martial arts events in the U.S.

Paramount said Monday that it has signed a seven-year deal with TKO Group Holdings that will put 13 marquee UFC events and 30 fight nights on streaming platform Paramount+ beginning next year. Some of the matches will air on broadcast TV network CBS.

Paramount will pay an average of $1.1 billion a year — more than double the amount under TKO’s current pact with ESPN, which expires at the end of 2025.

The deal underscores Paramount Chairman David Ellison’s intent to aggressively pursue properties that will make the company’s streaming platform more attractive to consumers as it battles with Netflix, Amazon and other competitors. Last month, Paramount executives — with the blessing of Ellison and his management team — agreed to pay “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone $1.25 billion over five years to lock up exclusive streaming rights to the foul-mouthed Comedy Central cartoon.

Paramount wants more popular, exclusive content to expand the base for Paramount+ and keep consumers paying for the service. The UFC fits the bill, in large part because it is popular with younger men — an elusive demographic for traditional television programmers.

Fans will notice a significant shift when the new deal kicks in.

TKO has agreed to move away from the UFC’s existing pay-per-view model, which means the fights will be widely available to streaming subscribers and in some cases, CBS’ broad audience. All fights will be available with a Paramount+ subscription.

Sports rights have become increasingly important to media companies as they search for ways to draw big audiences that watch television in real time. Mixed martial arts fights will provide Paramount with 43 events — more than 350 hours of boisterous programming a year.

TKO says the UFC draws nearly 100 million fans in the U.S. That includes President Trump.

“Live sports continue to be a cornerstone of our broader strategy — driving engagement, subscriber growth, and long-term loyalty,” Ellison said in a statement. “The addition of UFC’s year-round must-watch events to our platforms is a major win.”

The deal’s value exceeds Wall Street’s earlier estimates. In a note to investors, TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza wrote that analysts had previously estimated the value of the UFC rights at $875 million to $925 million a year.

“The deal underscores the unique value proposition of TKO’s primary content packages, UFC and WWE, both of which we believe offer rare opportunities to capture mass audiences focused on a youthful, male demographic,” Vitanza wrote.

TKO shares soared 10% on the news to $180 a share on Monday. in mid-day trading.

Paramount shares slipped 3.7% to $10.12.

Ellison, the son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, became chairman and chief executive of Paramount last week after his production company Skydance Media completed its $8-billion takeover of the media company.

David Ellison attended at least two UFC fights this year, speaking briefly with Trump at both events. The last meeting, which occurred in New Jersey in early June, came as Paramount was struggling to reach a truce with Trump in his lawsuit over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. At the time, Ellison was awaiting regulatory approval of the Paramount-Skydance merger.

Paramount’s new sports arrangements strengthens ties between Ellison and Ari Emanuel, the longtime agent who serves as executive chairman of TKO Group Holdings, which owns the UFC.

This spring, Ellison turned to Emanuel for help facilitating his and Paramount’s dealings, including with Trump, sources have told The Times.

Emanuel is close to Ellison and was once Trump’s agent. After Emanuel became involved, Paramount reached its $16 million settlement to end Trump’s lawsuit against CBS and Paramount over last October’s “60 Minutes” Harris interview. Trump had complained that “60 Minutes” edited the interview to make Harris more appealing to voters.

The Trump settlement was widely seen as a concession to allow Skydance and Paramount to get the merger over the finish line. Three weeks after the settlement, the Federal Communications Commission approved the Skydance takeover.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join forces with Dana, Ari, and Mark,” Ellison said in Monday’s statement, a nod to the TKO leadership team, which includes UFC Chief Executive Dana White, Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, TKO’s chief operating officer.

“This is a milestone moment and trademark deal for UFC, solidifying its position as a preeminent sports asset,” Emanuel said in the statement. “We believe wholeheartedly in David’s vision and look forward to being in business with a company that will prioritize technology as a means to enhance storytelling and the overall viewing experience.”

The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN will remain in business with TKO, having recently signed a new five-year $1.6-billion deal to carry its WWE events. ESPN will offer WWE events such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam to subscribers of its direct-to-consumer platform, which launches later this month.

Southern California’s prolonged heat wave is finally forecast to begin letting up Wednesday, but elevated temperatures will continue to bring health and fire risks Monday and Tuesday.

A cooling trend is expected to slowly fall into place Wednesday after a week of scorching temperatures that baked the Southland’s interior and fueled several fast-growing wildfires.

“Wednesday will be a little cooler and then we’ll see a cooling trend into Thursday ... and the weekend,” said Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “We’re looking at relatively cool temperatures into next week.”

Although the cooldown is forecast to drop temperatures 10 to 15 degrees from peak highs, Lewis said temperatures will remain warm probably through at least September.

But until that slight cooldown, much of the region will remain under heat warnings and advisories which officials say will continue to create elevated fire conditions.

The Antelope Valley and surrounding foothills are under an extreme heat warning for Monday and Tuesday, with highs forecast to reach 110 degrees and remain in the 80s at night, according to the weather service. The Mojave Desert also has been issued an extreme heat warning, with temperatures expected to reach 110 and as high as 122 degrees in Death Valley.

Heat advisories also were issued for much of Southern California’s inland and mountainous areas, with highs reaching into the 90s or triple digits, including across the San Gabriel Mountains, the Inland Empire and the San Bernardino and Santa Barbara county mountains. Much of the Central Valley is also under a heat advisory, with highs expected around 105.

Although most of Los Angeles County isn’t under a heat advisory, highs will still be above average Monday and Tuesday, with downtown L.A. expected to hit 90 degrees Monday. However, coastal areas will be relatively unaffected due to a strong marine layer.

The heat will continue to dry out an already parched landscape, which Lewis said will keep the threat of wildfires elevated even without a forecast of major winds.

“Anytime you have these warm temps, especially prolonged, [fire weather] is still definitely concern,” Lewis said.

Firefighters, however, have been able to make great progress on the Canyon fire, which broke out in eastern Ventura County during the start of the heat wave last week. The 5,370-acre blaze was 91% contained as of Monday and all evacuation warnings had been lifted. Two homes were destroyed in the fire, as were seven smaller sheds or outbuildings, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

But farther north, officials remained concerned about the Gifford fire, which is burning across northern Santa Barbara County and southern San Luis Obispo County. Since it ignited Aug. 1, the fire has charred nearly 120,000 acres as of Monday, becoming the state’s largest blaze of the year.

Although the Gifford fire is burning primarily across wilderness areas, U.S. Forest Service officials said the continued high temperatures will keep conditions challenging. It was 33% contained as of Monday, and widespread evacuation orders and warnings remain in effect.

The cause of both fires remains under investigation.

A three-day bench trial will begin Monday over whether President Trump’s National Guard deployment to Los Angeles violated a general prohibition on using federal troops as civilian law enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer will hear testimony from three military and immigration officials as the judge weighs whether sending in troops to combat immigration protests violated the Posse Comitatus Act.

It marks a major legal confrontation between Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who has condemned the deployment as political theater and broadly framed himself as the face of resistance against the president’s agenda.

Only 300 of the nearly 5,000 Guard members sent to Los Angeles in June remain, but the trial is moving ahead as Newsom urges Trump to send the remaining troops home. Marines were also deployed but were released last month.

“It reinforces the litigation strategy,” Newsom told reporters last week.

“Those things are not coincidental,” the governor continued. “Had we not positioned ourselves, had we not postured with that litigation approach, we would not be in this position with that withdrawal.”

Trial to focus on troops’ operations

Newsom sued Trump in June as the president federalized the California National Guard to combat immigration protests in Los Angeles that sometimes turned violent.

The governor has been unsuccessful so far.

Breyer ruled Trump illegally federalized the National Guard and ordered he hand back control to Newsom, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals quickly lifted the ruling until it resolves the administration’s appeal. That decision is likely still months away.

As the appeal over Trump’s authority proceeds, it does not address what activities the troops may engage in while on the ground.

That’s the subject of this week’s trial.

Newsom asserts the deployment violates the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 federal law that generally bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement.

Some of the troops have been stationed at several federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, which is not at issue. But the state has taken aim at troops who have went elsewhere to accompany immigration agents, including during a violent raid at a cannabis farm last month that left one dead.

The administration argues the Posse Comitatus Act provides no pathway for California to sue. Even if it did, the administration contends the law is superseded by another statute it argues expressly authorizes the National Guard’s efforts.

“Accompanying federal law enforcement officials for their protection as those officials enforce federal immigration laws does not mean that the troops are themselves engaging in law enforcement,” the administration wrote in court filings.

But California warned that the administration’s position would give Trump unchecked power.

“It simply is not the law that Defendants may deploy standing armies to the streets of California while California is powerless to do anything about that clear violation of the most fundamental principles of our Nation’s founding,” California wrote in court filings last week.

ICE, military officials to testify

The parties are expected to summon a total of three witnesses, court records show.

Newsom plans to call Ernesto Santacruz Jr., who leads Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Los Angeles field office.

The state also intends to call William Harrington and Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, leaders of an Army task force that has tactical control over the deployed federalized Guard troops.

The Trump administration also will call Sherman but did not list any other witness.

The parties estimated the combined testimony will last upward of eight hours, not including cross-examination.

Breyer has indicated he expects the witnesses to conclude by Tuesday. Then, the judge will then hear legal arguments from both sides.

The Justice Department insists the trial is unnecessary. It asked Breyer to forgo the proceedings and immediately toss Newsom’s claims, but the judge declined to do so.

“Next week’s trial is not cancelled. The Court expects to hear evidence beginning on Monday,” Breyer ruled last week.

Among first trials challenging Trump policies

This week’s proceeding is one of the first full-fledged trials challenging one of Trump’s actions since returning to the White House.

His administration faces more than 300 lawsuits challenging major policies in total. But most plaintiffs have pressed their claims in truncated, emergency proceedings. Several judges have converted those emergency rulings into final judgments, sending the case to the appeals courts without going through an actual trial.

Breyer’s trial follows two others held this summer.

Last month, a Boston-based federal judge conducted a bench trial challenging the Trump administration’s arrests of pro-Palestinian activists on college campuses. He has not yet ruled.

The same judge in June held a bench trial on Democratic states and health groups’ bid to reinstate nearly $800 million in health grants the administration canceled over links to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The judge ruled for the plaintiffs, and the Justice Department has filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court, which could rule at any time.

This week’s trial will unfold in Breyer’s courtroom in San Francisco. The Justice Department has criticized California for filing its lawsuit there, “hundreds of miles from the scene.”

Breyer was appointed by former President Clinton and is the younger brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

The trial marks a major moment for California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s (D) office, which is suing alongside Newsom.

Bonta has taken pride in the barrage of litigation he has brought against Trump. Last week, he touted that he is a plaintiff in 37 lawsuits against the administration and has restored more than $168 billion in funding to California.

“The moment the Trump administration stops breaking the law and violating the Constitution, we’ll stop suing. Simple,” Bonta told reporters last week.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

What could the next mega-earthquake on California’s notorious San Andreas fault look like?

Would it be a repeat of 1857, when an earthquake estimated at magnitude 7.7 to 7.9 ruptured the fault from Monterey County all the way through Los Angeles County? Would it be more akin to the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which began just offshore of the city and ruptured in two directions, toward Humboldt County and Santa Cruz County?

Don’t bet on an identical sequel.

That’s the implication of a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report, coauthored by scientists at Caltech in Pasadena, studied a massive earthquake that ruptured in the southeast Asian country of Myanmar on March 28 — on a fault known for being eerily similar to the San Andreas.

The earthquake ended up rupturing a much longer section of the fault than scientists expected, given the seismology of the region.

The implications of this study are that “earthquakes never come back exactly the same way,” Solene L. Antoine, a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech and the study’s lead author, said in an interview.

“It came as a surprise that you could get such a long rupture,” said Jean-Philippe Avouac, a coauthor of the study and a professor of geology and mechanical and civil engineering at Caltech.

March’s Mandalay earthquake devastated Myanmar, killing at least 3,791 people and an additional 63 people in Thailand. High-rise buildings were damaged as far away as Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and homes were damaged in the Ruili area of China. Damage was estimated at $1.9 billion, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was the most powerful earthquake in Myanmar in at least 79 years.

The magnitude 7.7 earthquake ruptured an astonishing 317 miles of the Sagaing fault, a finding based on Antoine’s analysis of satellite data showing earth movement after the quake. That’s the longest seismic rupture ever documented on a continent.

By comparison, California’s 1906 earthquake ruptured 296 miles of the San Andreas fault; and the 1857 earthquake, 225 miles. Longer seismic ruptures have been found only on subduction megathrusts deep underneath the ocean.

What’s clear from the study is that while California’s next “Big One” may share some characteristics of previously documented devastating quakes, it’s unlikely to be an exact replay. As the recent experience in Myanmar shows, even well-documented faults can behave in surprising ways.

The next step is to develop a model simulating earthquakes over many millennia for the San Andreas fault, which the authors plan to do in the future. But the San Andreas fault “is far more complex,” Avouac said. “It’s not going to come soon, because it’s quite a heavy calculation.”

Still, such simulations would provide a model of “all possible scenarios so that we have a better view of the range of possible ruptures that could happen.”

For instance, maybe the San Andreas fault will rupture in smaller, separate earthquakes, Avouac said.

Or it could be a much larger earthquake — rupturing the fault not just from Monterey to Los Angeles counties, but perhaps all the way into San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties, which would possibly exceed magnitude 8. Such a quake would be the largest simultaneous disaster in modern California history, with huge swaths of the state wracked by powerful seismic shaking all at once.

By comparison, the 1994 Northridge earthquake’s footprint was relatively constrained, severely affecting only a portion of Los Angeles County, especially the San Fernando Valley — related to its relatively smaller magnitude of 6.7.

But while modeling previous activity on the San Andreas fault will provide a glimpse into the wide range of possible outcomes, it will not pinpoint precisely when the next great quake will strike.

“We can’t just expect the exact same thing to happen,” Antoine said. “It is a matter of just showing what scenarios are possible, the diversity of scenarios and seeing what are the consequences of each of those scenarios.”

Sometimes, Avouac said, “it’s quiet for a long time, nothing happens ... stress is building up, the fault is locked for a long time, nothing happens, and then, boom, you have a large earthquake.”

“And then you have other periods during which you have a lot of [seismic] activity, but these earthquakes are all smaller,” Avouac said.

But “smaller” earthquakes, in the minds of researchers, are still big to the layperson. In the study’s simulations, there are periods where earthquakes around magnitude 7.7 are common. In other periods, earthquakes max out at magnitude 7.5 or so, but are more frequent.

The entire length of the Sagaing fault — including areas that didn’t rupture in the March earthquake — is 750 miles, north to south, from the Himalayas to the Andaman Sea, and helps accommodate the northward push of the Indian tectonic plate.

The fact that 317 miles of the Sagaing fault ruptured in March was surprising to scientists. Only about 170 miles had been quiet seismically for more than a century, having last ruptured in 1839.

Scientists call these “seismic gaps” — particular areas of a fault that haven’t recently ruptured.

Generally, scientists would’ve expected only this long-dormant 170-mile piece of the Sagaing fault to rupture, Avouac said, but not more recently ruptured sections. That includes a 100-mile stretch that ruptured in large earthquakes in 1929 and 1930, and a 50-mile stretch that went off in a pair of quakes in 1946 and 1956.

Instead, even those fault segments ruptured in the big March earthquake.

So what gives?

A possible explanation is the Sagaing fault’s extraordinary smoothness. “And people have observed that when the fault is very smooth, the rupture ... tends to propagate at a velocity” so fast that it results in an “extremely elongated rupture,” Avouac said.

The study also published the results of a computer model simulation looking at how earthquakes might rupture along sections of the entire 750-mile long Sagaing fault. The code, developed by study coauthor Kyungjae Im of Caltech, suggests that over a hypothetical 1,400-year period, there would be no repeatable patterns.

In other words, earthquakes didn’t seem to re-occur like clockwork, rupturing the same stretch of fault in a repeatable, predictable pattern.

“There is complexity here. And this is because each time you have an earthquake, it redistributes the stress on the fault, which is going to influence the next earthquake,” Avouac said. “There’s a self-induced complexity in the process, and that leads to a bit of randomness.”

There is one certainty, which is bound to disappoint anyone who shares the hope that a “Big One” simply won’t ever strike California again.

“There will be an earthquake at some point,” Antoine said. “If there is stress building up on the fault, the fault won’t hold forever.”

Further research and observations are essential to refine models of future possible earthquakes, including from the Sentinel satellites, which are operated by the European Space Agency, the authors said.

The other coauthors of the study are Rajani Shrestha and Chris Milliner of Caltech; Chris Rollins of Earth Sciences New Zealand; Kang Wang of the Washington-based EarthScope Consortium; and Kejie Chen of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power restored water service to more than 9,000 San Fernando Valley residents after a valve failure caused taps to run dry or slow to a trickle last week.

According to the DWP, water flow to all residents in the Granada Hills and Porter Ranch areas affected by the shutdown was restored as of 2:37 a.m. Monday. Residents were told that a boil water notice would remain in effect for several more days.

The notice instructs residents to only used boiled tap water or bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Customers “can now use tap water to take showers, flush toilets, water landscaping and other household and business needs. However, the Boil Water Notice remains in effect until LADWP completes its rigorous water quality testing,” read a DWP notice.

Porter Ranch resident Matt Pakucko relied on free bottled water from the DWP after the water stopped regularly flowing at his home last week.

“It was like camping out without the fun parts,” said Pakucko. With the water back on, he plans to flush out his water system, including changing the filter in his refrigerator and draining his water heater.

He criticized what he called the mixed messaging from the city over the last few days. Mayor Karen Bass, he said, told the public to conserve water, while the DWP said not to use water.

A representative for the DWP didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the messaging.

The agency announced Monday that all fire hydrants in the affected area are now available to support firefighting efforts if necessary.

Temporary mobile showers and laundry facilities will shut down at 10 p.m. Monday, but water bottle distribution and recycled water distribution will remain available at select locations.

The problem arose on Tuesday, when a valve that controls the flow of water broke during repairs at a pump station that supplies a 10-million-gallon water tank.

The valve that broke was installed in 1967, officials said. It was stuck in a nearly closed position and could not be opened, which impeded the flow of water.

The work of reaching the valve 20 feet underground was complicated because, as workers dug to reach it, they encountered fiber-optic cable, a high-pressure gas line and an oil line.

While the work was underway, another problem occurred in one area of Granada Hills. DWP workers had installed two lines of hose-like temporary pipe to transport water from the Metropolitan Water District, the region’s water wholesaler, to a city pipe, and on Saturday one of those hoses popped off a connection and sent water shooting into a backyard in Granada Hills.