Class of 2019, Pre Gold Jackets #PFHOF19 : @caitlynepes // @NFL pic.twitter.com/m5XQ6DbDDX - Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) August 3, 2019 The 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony takes place Saturday, Aug. 3 at the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The Class of 2019 features 8 inductees: cornerback Champ Bailey, contributor Pat Bowlen, contributor Gil Brandt, tight end Tony Gonzalez, cornerback Ty Law, center Kevin Mawae, safety Ed Reed and safety Johnny Robinson. The ceremony will be held from 4:00-7:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN and the NFL Network. Over 130 Gold Jackets - living Hall of Famers - are expected to attend the event. This year's class features a former Seahawk, guard Kevin Mawae, who was originally selected by Seattle in the second round - No. 36 overall - in 1994 NFL draft. Mawae spent four seasons in Seattle before heading to the Jets and then the Titans. Over his career, Mawae was named to eight Pro Bowls, including six consecutive seasons from 1999-2004, and seven All-Pro First Teams. This was his third time as a finalist on the Hall of Fame ballot. MORE: It didn't take long for NFL fans to freak out over the new pass interference rule Five potential Jeremy Lin landing spots in free agency Every position's biggest winner at the halfway point of Lions training camp Dez Bryant: Saints will get first opportunity to sign me Packers WRs Jake Kumerow, Trevor Davis shine at Family Night Scrimmage


For the past decade, electricity traders and generators have taken advantage of a little-known wrinkle in California's energy market to extract more than $866 million from the state's power grid. Utility ratepayers have absorbed the losses, according to the California Independent System Operator, or ISO, which oversees the sprawling network of power plants, transmission lines and transformers that make up the grid. Behind it all, wealthy energy traders and generators have been quietly profiting from a collection of arcane financial contracts known as "congestion revenue rights," a Sacramento Bee review of financial records and interviews shows. The ISO created the lucrative contracts to help PG&E Corp. and other utilities cushion themselves against spikes in energy costs that occur when portions of the grid get clogged with electricity. The contracts act as a kind of insurance policy, paying cash to offset at least part of the cost of making sure power flows during high-use "congestion" time. Yet since trading began in 2009, outside investors   mostly a host of boutique commodities trading firms from around the country   have been making sweet profits. The key to their success: They've found contracts covering remote segments of the grid, overlooked by their competitors, and bought them for next to nothing. That's made the contracts a goldmine. "We saw financial entities picking off corners of the system on the cheap," said Perry Servedio, the ISO's lead market design policy developer. The profit-taking at the expense of utilities and their ratepayers has largely escaped public notice. In mid-July one trader, a little-known Houston firm called Vitol Inc., was accused by federal officials last month of trying to fraudulently manipulate the flow of electricity in California to enhance the value of its congestion contracts   but the case was barely mentioned in the media. The firm has denied the allegations. What occurred isn't equal in magnitude to the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001, when California was publicly held hostage by blackouts and horrific spikes in electricity costs. Investigators later revealed that rogue traders at Enron, a now-defunct Houston company whose CEO went to prison, and other firms had manipulated energy supplies to swindle billions from California ratepayers. Nevertheless, the trading in congestion contracts has become another example of how California's system for delivering electrons has left itself vulnerable to outside forces. And this time, unlike what happened in the Enron era, the trades are perfectly legal. "This is not manipulation. It's a problem with the rules," said Eric Hildebrandt, director of market monitoring at the ISO. Hildebrandt, who acts as a kind of in-house watchdog at the ISO, has been warning about the problem for years and testified before Congress on the subject in 2017. The problem got so bad that the ISO has overhauled the system to limit the red ink, effective this year. The losses have been significantly reduced through the first half of 2019, according to Hildebrandt. Energy traders say the market reforms were a major over-reaction   and ignored the useful role that congestion contracts play in helping utilities manage their electricity flows on the grid. "We thought it was too drastic a solution," said Scott Miller of the Western Power Trading Forum, a Sacramento-based association of energy traders and marketers. "The fact that there are winners or losers at any given time is not a problem; it doesn't mean anyone is manipulating the market." His association is asking the ISO to reconsider the changes it's made. In the scheme of things, the $866 million in losses over a decade aren't enormous. The cost of electricity just for California's three largest utilities is more than $30 billion a year, according to Public Utilities Commission data. Still, the ISO doesn't appear likely to back off from the changes it's implemented to stem the losses on congestion contracts. Servedio said grid managers are watching to see if the reforms take hold for good   or if more tightening of the system is needed. "The early indications are that (the changes) have been a success," Servedio said. "If these metrics start to deteriorate, we have no hesitation taking additional action." Employees of these energy trading firms seem to inhabit a small, specialized universe. Take, for example, Federico Corteggiano. Last month, the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accused Corteggiano and his employer, Houston-based Vitol, of making illegal energy trades in the California ISO to avoid potential losses on congestion contracts. FERC's staff wants to fine Vitol about $7.2 million and Corteggiano $800,000. In its complaint, FERC's staff said Corteggiano was well aware of the intricacies of the ISO market. While working at a consulting firm in the mid-2000s, he helped create the software the ISO uses to run the congestion contracts. A few years later, FERC said, he was working at Deutsche Bank when the German investment bank was fined $1.5 million for manipulating California's market, although he wasn't named in that complaint. "Corteggiano acquired the knowledge of how to manipulate congestion costs ... in 2010, when he was working at Deutsche Bank," said the FERC complaint against Vitol and Corteggiano. Vitol said in a prepared statement that its "conduct was lawful." It's hard to quantify how much the congestion losses have added to the average Californian's electric bill. The latest available figures from the U.S. Department of Energy show average electricity rates in California rose 24 percent from 2009 to 2017, to 18.31 cents per kilowatt hour. While the cost per kilowatt is 40 percent above the national average, Californians' actual monthly bills are about $10 lower than average because the state's residents use a lot less power. Enron, blackouts, price spikes The ISO runs the transmission grid for about three quarters of the state's electricity network, including the territory served by PG&E, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and many of California's major public power agencies. One notable exception is SMUD. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District isn't a full member of the ISO grid and its ratepayers aren't absorbing any of the losses incurred on the congestion contracts. Operating from a sprawling $150 million headquarters near Folsom High School, the ISO is a creature of California's effort to deregulate its energy markets beginning in 1998. Attempting to inject market competition into a bloated system, the Legislature ordered PG&E, Edison and SDG&E to sell most of their plants to independent generators and then buy most of their power on a "day ahead" spot market. The ISO was established by the state to run the transmission network and smooth out minor, temporary shortages by purchasing bits of power. In 2000, however, the market went haywire. Electricity costs went from around $30 per megawatt hour   enough juice to power 750 homes for an hour   to as much as $1,000. The ISO was thrust into the role of savior and forced to buy enormous volumes of electricity, regardless of price, to keep the lights on. Several days of rolling blackouts hit the grid when purchases fell short. As prices soared, the ISO billed its member utilities for the costs   driving PG&E into bankruptcy. (It emerged from bankruptcy in 2004, only to file for protection again this year because of billions in wildfire liabilities. ) Calm was restored when the state began buying power for the utilities on long-term contracts. That broke the fever in the spot market. When it was later revealed that Enron and its brethren had gamed the system   manipulating supplies to jack up prices with cleverly-named trading schemes like "Death Star," "Get Shorty" and "megawatt laundering"   state officials began filing legal claims to recoup the losses. In the years since, the state has recovered more than $7.5 billion for utility ratepayers, representing about 75 percent to 80 percent of the estimated losses. Nearly 20 years after the crisis, the California energy market is relatively uneventful. The last big trading scandal was settled in 2013, when Wall Street titan JPMorgan Chase & Co. paid $410 million over charges that it used an illegal bait-and-switch scheme to squeeze more dollars from a fleet of Orange County power plants. Morgan didn't operate the plants but owned the rights to market the juice it generated. A major reason why peace has been restored is a structural change. Nowadays the utilities buy most of their electricity via long-term contracts; the ISO buys relatively little. But the grid operator still runs a series of markets, populated by utilities, independent generators and traders, in which power is bought and sold, sometimes on an hourly basis, at more than 1,000 locations across the state. One of the factors that can influence price is transmission congestion. If demand for power soars, or a transmission line fails, it can cause a line to become overloaded with electricity. When that happens, the ISO will direct a generator to kick into gear and deliver juice to customers from a different location. Because ISO markets are designed to buy only the cheapest power available, that backup generator will invariably be more expensive, raising the price of electricity in that sector of the grid. In other words, congestion costs money. Clearing up congestion In 2009, with the blessing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the ISO and other grid operators around the country introduced "congestion revenue rights," contracts that would allow the grid to protect itself, or "hedge," against congestion costs. Like an insurance policy, the contracts pay the grid cash to offset, or at least partially offset, the congestion costs. Financial traders were allowed to participate in the market because any wager needs a counter-party to put up cash on the opposite side of the bet. "The role of a financial entity ... is to provide the liquidity." For financial traders, the contracts are a way of speculating on congestion. If traders bet the right way, their contracts gain value and they collect money from the ISO. If they bet wrong, they pay money to the grid operator. For the most part, they've bet right. Since 2016 Hildebrandt, the director of market monitoring, has been warning leaders of the ISO that the grid was bleeding millions of dollars on congestion contracts. From 2012 to 2015, "the losses to ratepayers" were averaging $130 million a year, he wrote in a report in 2016. Hildebrandt's analysis showed independent power generators were making money off congestion contracts, too. But the lion's share of the profits   more than 85 percent   was going to financial trading firms. To be fair, Hildebrandt said the problem of congestion contracts is hardly unique to California. In 2017, he testified to the House energy subcommittee that congestion contracts were costing ratepayers around the country $400 million a year. According to Hildebrandt, the losses were largely the result of a "major market design flaw"   the grid operators' decision to auction off the contracts en masse. California's grid is divided up so finely that, until recently, it was auctioning 1.2 million congestion contracts at a time on its computerized trading platform. That made it easy for savvy traders to find contracts ignored by their competitors and buy them cheaply   often for 50 cents on the dollar or less. "You had all this bidding behavior spread out over potentially 1.2 million different combinations," Servedio said. Traders "could get an enormous undervaluation and then make a much larger return. We saw that as a lack of competition." Late last year, the ISO attempted to curtail the losses. It put a cap on how much money traders could earn from congestion contracts. And it dramatically reduced the number of contracts up for sale, to about 90,000, according to Servedio. "We're able to focus all the bidding behavior and therefore increase the competition," he said. The losses totaled $8 million in the first half of 2019, compared to $61 million in the first half of last year. Problem solved? Hildebrandt, the ISO's watchdog, isn't convinced. While he applauds the organization for making changes   something grid operators in other states haven't yet undertaken   he said the ISO's system remains vulnerable. "It's still money going out," he said. "The potential remains for much more significant losses."     ©2019 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) Visit The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) at www.sacbee.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


Are Uber drivers small-business owners? Or are they exploited employees? That question matters to your small business because there's a war going on over the question of "employee status." Whether you're a gig worker, service provider, consultant or one of the hundreds of other kinds of self-employed entrepreneurs   or you hire those kinds of workers   you're a soldier in this war. Though technology has made it complicated, choosing how to classify a worker is a long-standing question for businesses. Companies generally prefer treating workers as independent contractors. As such, they don't pay payroll taxes or overtime or give these workers other benefits. The companies have flexibility in when and how they use workers. Independent contractors aren't allowed to unionize. As a result, many companies, not just tech companies, intentionally choose to classify   or misclassify   workers as independent contractors. Now, new developments make things even more complicated in these areas: ► Services using platforms to provide services. Think Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Grubhub and Instacart, where the workers are the ones providing the service sold by the company and, though workers might set their own hours, the company sets prices and terms. ► Platforms connecting freelancers with customers. Businesses like Upwork, Rover.com and TaskRabbit are intermediaries enabling individual contractors or small businesses to find customers. The workers negotiate their own terms, pay, time and much more. ► Permanent independent contractors. Whether for janitors, bus drivers, food service workers or even software engineers, the real hiring company shifts the burden of meeting employer obligations off to a third party, often with minimal oversight. In Silicon Valley, where I live, this is a common practice by the biggest tech companies. The question of how to classify workers is being fought on both the federal and state level: U.S.   In April and May, the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board issued rulings and advisories indicating that gig workers and independent contractors would be treated essentially as entrepreneurs, running their own businesses, and not subject to employment protections, such as minimum wage and overtime pay, nor can they form unions. California   Often a trend-setter in legislation, California's State Assembly just passed AB5, a bill requiring independent contractors to be treated as employees, with wage, hour and benefit protections. This comes on the heels of a California Supreme Court decision last year (in Dynamex v. Superior Court) holding that to be considered an independent contractor, the work done must be outside the company's normal course of business, the company doesn't control the worker, and the worker has an established independent trade. From the time I started in business more than two decades ago, this question of how to classify workers has stymied both larger and small businesses. That's because having just these two classifications   employee or independent contractor   leaves out too many people. One reason many people start their own businesses is that they want to control their own time and have flexibility of when and how much they work. And businesses want and need more flexibility in how and when they use workers. But no worker should earn less than minimum wage. All workers should be entitled to at least the following: ► Minimum-wage provisions ► Overtime protection ► Employer payroll taxes for Social Security ► Workers' compensation Also, employees whose work provides the central service being sold or who work exclusively for one company on a long-term basis should be entitled to benefits, including health care. Many Lyft and Uber drivers I used to talk to would say they started driving because it met their need for more control, especially over their time. But, increasingly, they tell me that they have little or no meaningful control   the companies set the terms and prices, control what kind of cars they must have and they have to work certain times to make even minimum wage. Treating so many workers as independent contractors has real consequences for the economy and our society. Many of these hard workers, often working more than full-time, end up needing government benefits such as food stamps. That costs you and me   and our small businesses   money. As importantly, I suspect part of America's growing income inequality comes from companies shifting the status of workers. It's time for a new designation that takes into account the realities of both workers and companies and the complexities of these changing relationships. Rhonda Abrams is the author of "Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies," the best-selling business plan guide of all time, just released in its seventh edition. Connect with Rhonda on Facebook ; Instagram and Twitter @RhondaAbrams . Register for Rhonda's free business tips newsletter at www.PlanningShop.com The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How small businesses classify employees matters in a big way


Seth moderates a high-stakes debate between all of the Democratic presidential candidates.


#TBT to when mullets were everything. Ever wonder how people styled their hair and did their makeup back in the day? Throughout the years, there have been beauty icons and trends that made a big splash and created a following-and some trends even made double or triple appearances in later years. If you're curious as to where "bed head" or fake eyelashes really began, you're in luck. These were the most popular beauty trends the year you were born. 1955: Thick bangs Whether it was a thick fringe that swept sideways across the forehead or just straight down with full texture, bangs were totally in in 1955-and the heavier, the better. In the 1940s, hair was neat and kept away from the face, so this was a big change. Bettie Page set the trend when she appeared in Playboy in 1955 sporting the look. 1956: Red lips Red lips were all the rage thanks to Grace Kelly and other leading women who wanted to make a bold statement and own their womanhood. 1957: Winged eyeliner While celebrities love the winged eyeliner look today, in the 1950s it was the hottest look in eye makeup-even cat-eye glasses had become the new go-to shape. Marilyn Monroe was the queen of this sultry look. 1958: Short, curly hair Cutting hair short and leaving in some curl became the trendiest new hairstyle in 1958. Think Elizabeth Taylor and all her elegance. 1959: Thick eyebrows Thick brows you could brush were seen as beautiful, with a more rounded, curved shape. Women typically played the bushiness up with a smokey sort of look around the eyes. 1960: False eyelashes Women wanted long, dramatic lashes with a heavy liner. If your regular mascara didn't give you a bold enough look, that meant going for Twiggy-style falsies. 1961: Flipped-under bob Everyone wanted to look like First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, with her flipped-under short bob cut and side-swept bang. It was seen as classic and chic. 1962: Bombshell hair Women teased their hair endlessly to get that messy, just-out-of-bed "bombshell" look in the 1960s. Led by icons like Brigitte Bardot, it was sexy and looked effortless. 1963: Extreme winged eyeliner Winged eyeliner is back-but this time with a greater intensity for the new decade. After Elizabeth Taylor took the cat eye to new levels in Cleopatra , everyone wanted to copy her with a more "canary" look of blue shadow or lilac that extended up to the brow bone. 1964: Smokey eyes Winged eyeliner not enough look for you? The ladies wanted smokey eyes, too. They used a grey or black shadow, with grey going up to the browbone and a white shadow in the inner corner of the eye. Today, there's much more smudging involved. 1965: Beehives No, bees are not involved. This "beehive" sat right on a woman's head, giving her some added height. It was super popular among the Ronettes and Aretha Franklin. 1966: Intense lower lashes Everyone knows this iconic look, made popular by model Twiggy. The big, thick lashes from earlier in the decade made their way to the bottom of the eye, too. 1967: Pixie cuts The pixie cut made a huge statement. The rumor has it that when Mia Farrow chopped her hair off for her role in Rosemary's Baby, Frank Sinatra peaced out. No one knows what happened for sure, but after that it was the new "it" cut. 1968: Cut-crease eyeshadow Known as a more complicated makeup trend, the cut-crease involved putting light eyeshadow on the lid and then layering with a darker shade on top of the eyelid crease in a "v" shape. Using both light and dark was a bold, super-glam contrast. 1969: Afros Seen as a "hippie" look, the Afro was actually really popular in 1969 and was a representation of beauty for a black woman in the era. 1970: Full fringe A thick fringe was in for 1970, and women loved experimenting to look like Cher, who had a long straight haircut with bangs that just barely touched her eyelids. 1971: Center parts Having even, symmetrical hair was totally in for 1971, where everyone wanted to part their hair right down the middle. 1972: Modified shag hair Inspired by Liza Minnelli, it was an in-between of a pixie cut and a bob. Once Jane Fonda sported this look in her mugshot (yikes), the style blew up. 1973: Headscarves Along with a bright pop of color on the lips and dark lashes, accessories like headscarves really rounded out the beauty look. Donna Summer and Diana Ross really popularized the use of accessories with makeup during this era. 1974: Ponytails Ponytails were seen as sporty-chic, especially when tied off to the side. They generally started at the nape of the neck and were straight, not curled. 1975: Pastel eyeshadow Dark shadow was out and lighter pastel hues were in for 1975. Thanks to disco and folk music, most people wanted softer eyes, as opposed to the intense looks that were more prominent in the 1960s. 1976: "The Farrah" After Charlie's Angels , everyone wanted Farrah Fawcett's iconic, voluminous tresses. 1977: Long shag A style popularized by Carly Simon, this hair was shaggy and still chic. 1978: Loose curls Tousled, undone curls were all the rage, seen here on Cheryl Tiegs. 1979: Flowers in the hair Hair accessories were still popular, but this time it was flowers. It was the perfect attire for a disco night out! 1980: Graphic eyeliner A great start to the 1980s, women embraced eyeliner for all its drama. 1981: Colorful eyes Goodbye pastels and hello bold hues! Think Debbie Harry-her bright eyeshadow and thick liner made quite the statement. She loved doing a pink shadow and blue liner in particular. 1982: Bushy eyebrows While thin arches may have been in starting in the 1960s, everyone wanted Brooke Shields' thick, powerful brows when the '80s rolled around. 1983: The mullet When Olivia Newton-John wore the mullet, believe me, it was fashion- and beauty-forward. This chic version had layers that made it look classy and upscale. 1984: Bright blush Bright pinks and reds added a nice pop of color to the cheeks. Of course, a bright outfit to go with it was also encouraged. 1985: Color-blocking eyeshadow Wearing just one bright shadow simply wasn't enough in 1985. Instead, the new trend was to match two bold colors together, like red with purple or green with purple. 1986: Teased ponytails Hairspray and high ponies were the beauty statement, and everyone wanted to replicate Madonna's super-cool, edgy look. 1987: Blue eyeliner Princess Diana and her blue eyeliner became the coveted look of young women everywhere. Fun fact: Her makeup artist hated this look, but Diana did her own thing, anyway. 1988: Pixie cuts The pixie cut is back but a bit tighter and put-together. Linda Evangelista was the inspiration for the new version, and the look catapulted her to stardom. 1989: Low-key makeup Out were the big, bold, bright colors and intense eyes in favor of minimalist makeup. It barely seemed like stars like Kate Moss were wearing any makeup at all. 1990: Clinique Black Honey lipstick This lipstick was on every lady's lips, as it was seen as a shade that works well on every smile.


Michael Vechell had already drawn the attention of an airline worker and two passengers at Los Angeles International Airport by the time he was confronted by police. Waiting to board his Philadelphia-bound flight with his dog Odie, Vechell had sparked concern when he sidled up to another passenger and asked if she wanted to join his "drug smuggling ring," authorities say. Although Vechell told LAX police it was just a misunderstanding, officers demanded to see his checked baggage. Inside, they found nearly 70 pounds of vacuum-sealed marijuana bundled into packages labeled "T-shirts," "cold weather" and "sexy pants." More than a year after California legalized the recreational use of cannabis, trafficking arrests like Vechell's have surged 166% at LAX, according to arrest records obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Emboldened by legalization and facing only light punishment if captured, more and more smugglers are taking to the friendly skies in an effort to escape California's glutted cannabis market, according to authorities, marijuana industry experts and a lawyer who represents accused smugglers. As a result, the world's fourth-busiest airport is now an expanding hub in the illegal export of marijuana, they say. "This is normal procedure for these guys, and I would say 29 out of 30 times they make it through without a problem," said Bill Kroger Jr., a 20-year criminal defense lawyer who specializes in marijuana cases and who represented Vechell. Authorities at LAX say they are encountering more and more airline passengers who are carrying small amounts of pot for personal use, but the number of checked bags stuffed entirely full of marijuana has soared as well. Police in Oakland and Sacramento say they are seeing the same thing. "We intercept large quantities of marijuana regularly," said Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction over Oakland International Airport. "We find it in about 50-pound quantities … the carry-on rate for luggage. I would imagine we're only intercepting some of it, not all of it." The sudden increase in airport smuggling is largely the result of legalization and a saturated market. California grows far more marijuana than its residents consume   up to five times more by some accounts   and cannabis users in other states will pay a much higher price. "Since pot's been legalized in California, there's no money to be made because everyone got involved in it," Kroger said. "They've got these big 50,000-square-foot [grow] houses, and they're flooding the market. The money is outside of California." In 2018   the state's first year of legalized recreational pot use   LAX police made 101 trafficking arrests, compared with 38 trafficking arrests in 2017 and 20 in 2016, according to Los Angeles Airport Police records. "I think we anticipated it," said Los Angeles World Airports police spokesman Rob Pedregon. "If you just look at the sheer numbers for us   87 million passengers a year … I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple months we do what the other airports do in a year." Although the medical and recreational use of cannabis is legal in California, it remains illegal in the eyes of the federal government, which considers it a Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin, LSD and ecstasy. Hoping to avoid a confrontation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the California Bureau of Cannabis Control has prohibited the export of marijuana to other states. Experts, however, say prohibition will do little to stop California from illegally exporting the bulk of its marijuana crop. In a 2017 paper on the economic effects of marijuana's legalization, researchers for the University of California Agricultural Issues Center estimate that up to 80% of the pot grown in California is shipped out of state   never to be taxed or regulated here. "Projections from all sources indicate that illegal cannabis will remain significant," the study said, "given that it is a market with long-established producers and consumers." As a result of this ongoing black market   and other factors   the state has been disappointed by the amount of tax revenue that legal pot generates . The bulk of illegally exported pot leaves the state by car or truck. In 2018, the California Highway Patrol seized more than 8 tons of marijuana in 63 incidents. The year before that, officers seized just over 2 tons in 76 stops. "The incidents are fewer," said CHP Capt. Jason Daughrity, "but the weight is heavier." Nevertheless, the number of traffickers using commercial airlines appears to be growing. Popular flight destinations include Chicago, Atlanta, Indianapolis and Dallas, according to LAX arrest records. Kroger said the consequences for getting stopped at a California airport with two checked bags of marijuana were relatively minor: a misdemeanor charge for someone without a history of drug or violent offenses. In the eyes of the federal government, the surge in smuggling is a clear case of "I told you so." "I don't think we're surprised by the numbers. These are things we foresaw and we've warned folks about," said Kyle Mori of the DEA's Los Angeles office. "When states legalize it, you give folks a false sense of security that they can come through TSA checkpoints…. They believe what they're doing is legal." Last year at LAX, there were 503 reports of marijuana discovered in bags, and only one-fifth of them involved trafficking suspects. In comparison, there were 400 reports of marijuana in 2017 and 282 reports in 2016. Much of the marijuana discovered is a result of passengers being confused over state and federal jurisdictions, and where those lines are drawn. In fact, people are allowed to possess up to 28.5 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of concentrated marijuana at LAX, according to the airport's website. "Although federally it's still illegal and they would be in violation of federal laws, we as airport police cannot enforce federal laws," Pedregon said. "As long as it's a usable, personal quantity under an ounce, they're free to go." Hundreds of passengers now regularly pack personal amounts of marijuana, cannabis oil or edibles in their carry-on or checked baggage assuming it's legal to fly with, forgetting that the federal government has dominion over the skies. From Nov. 16 to Nov. 26   when an estimated 2.52 million holiday season passengers usually pass through LAX   Transportation Security Administration agents called police 27 times after discovering marijuana in carry-on or checked luggage, though only six arrests were made. Among those stopped was a UCLA student-athlete on scholarship who was carrying 34 grams of marijuana   nearly 6 grams more than the state permits one person to carry   and a pipe in her purse. The woman "spontaneously said that the marijuana was hers and she was sorry for having it." Officers let her off with a warning, and she continued on her flight without the marijuana. Traffickers, however, will put more effort into concealing large amounts of cannabis and its derivatives, either by wrapping the contraband in things like wax paper, tinfoil or gift wrapping or disguising their products as candy or other foods. Such was the case Nov. 14 when TSA employees scanning checked luggage opened five suitcases that had failed to produce a scanned image on their monitors. The luggage belonged to two men on a Newark-bound flight and contained more than 100 pounds of cannabis products, according to arrest reports. In December, police arrested a man carrying 3 pounds of edibles and cannabis oil in his luggage. The suspect said he was struck by how low the prices were at the Inglewood dispensary he was visiting compared with prices he found at home in Hagerstown, Md. In numerous arrest reports reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, trafficking suspects told police they flew to California to purchase better and cheaper cannabis products to sell for a profit back home. When some states legalize marijuana but others do not, suppliers will move in to fill that void even if it's through black market channels, said California Cannabis Industry Assn. spokesman Josh Drayton. A pound of marijuana flower that costs $600 to $800 in California can be resold for $4,000 in the Midwest, he said. Despite the increase in commercial aviation trafficking incidents, marijuana remains a low enforcement priority, police say. The DEA's stance is that the drug has no medical benefit and that legalizing it increases DUI-related arrests, crashes and helps fund Mexican cartels. But beyond that, their immediate focus is elsewhere. "Heroin trafficking," Mori said, "and the diversion of chemicals and pharmaceuticals into the hands of gang members and violent criminals   those are certainly our priority."


A serial thief that targeted Northeast Ohio's elderly was sentenced to 15 years in prison this week, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley announced. Carlene McSwain, 57, was found guilty of stealing wallets from 18 people, nearly all of them elderly, while they were shopping at grocery stores in Cuyahoga, Lake, Medina and Portage counties. The average age of McSwain's targets was 74, O'Malley said. "This serial thief was like a shark in the water, striking at least 18 vulnerable victims when they least expected," said O'Malley. "She has nobody to blame but herself for her 15-year sentence." The first reported theft happened July 9, 2018 when a 79-year-old came to the Solon Police Department to report that her wallet had been stolen while shopping at a nearby grocery store. Inside her wallet was cash, multiple credit cards and her driver's license. Two of the credit cards were used fraudulently the same day the wallet was stolen, according to court documents. The 79-year-old said she noticed a middle-aged woman following her around the store. A few weeks later, on July 28, a 97-year-old woman reported a similar incident to Parma Police. The woman and her daughter, 70, discovered her wallet was missing while waiting in the check-out lane at the store, O'Malley's office said. Investigators believe that between July 15, 2018 and November 14, 2018, at least 16 similar thefts were reported throughout Northeast Ohio. O'Malley's office said the thefts happened in Middleburg Heights, Strongsville, North Olmsted, Broadview Heights, Rocky River, Eastlake, Medina, Ravenna and Sagamore Hills. The investigation into McSwain was conducted by multiple police departments. Officers used video surveillance to identify McSwain. Court documents said McSwain used the stolen credit cards to buy iPads, smart watches, XBoxes and other items. McSwain pleaded guilty to multiple counts of identity fraud, money laundering, aggravated theft and theft. Tawana McSwain, Carlene's daughter, is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing this week. She also faces charges of identity fraud, theft, money laundering and complicity.


Wondering where San Antonio's in-the-know crowd is eating and drinking? It's easy to spot lines out the door, but some underlying trends are harder to see. We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to uncover which local businesses have been getting extra attention this month. To find out who made the list, we looked at San Antonio businesses on Yelp by category and counted how many reviews each received. Rather than compare them based on number of reviews alone, we calculated a percentage increase in reviews over the past month, and tracked businesses that consistently increased their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance. Read on to see which spots are worth exploring, right now. Goodfire BBQ Open since January, this barbecue spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Barbeque" on Yelp. Citywide, barbecue spots saw a median 2.8% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Goodfire BBQ saw a 26.5% increase, with a slight downward trend from a four-star rating a month ago to 3.5 stars today. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Goodfire BBQ's review count increased by more than 190%. Located at 8629 Perrin Beitel Road, Goodfire BBQ offers Texas barbecue (brisket, ribs, pulled pork, sausage and turkey) by the plate, by the pound or on sandwiches, tacos and wraps. From the menu, look for the San Antonio brisket-style sandwich with barbecue sauce, pickles and raw onions, and the jalapeño pulled pork baked potato with cheese, butter, bacon, sour cream and green onion. Side options include coleslaw, potato salad, mac & cheese, french fries and beans. The spot also serves draft beer chilled to exactly 29 degrees. (Check out the full menu here .) LA Crawfish Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Wilshire's LA Crawfish , the Vietnamese, Cajun/Creole and seafood spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data. While businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp saw a median 3% increase in new reviews over the past month, LA Crawfish bagged a 16.1% increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a sound four-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining five times more reviews than expected based on its past performance. LA Crawfish is a regional franchise that has more than 20 outposts across Texas and one in California. Open at 1518 Austin Highway, Suite 18, since November, LA Crawfish specializes in boiled crawfish, but also offers shrimp, oysters, crabs, chicken wings, cajun pho and more. Don't forget to order a basket of beignets. (Explore the full menu here .) Torchy's Taco Forest Crest's Torchy's Taco is also making waves. Open since August at 17627 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 105, the breakfast and brunch spot, which offers tacos and more, has seen a 9.8% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.9% for all businesses tagged "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Torchy's Taco's review count increased by more than 170%. This Austin-based franchise has locations across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Colorado. Torchy's Taco offers salads, burritos, chips, sides and, of course, tacos. On the breakfast taco menu, which is available all day, look for the Wrangler with eggs, potatoes, smoked beef brisket and cheese with tomatillo sauce, and the Monk Special with eggs, bacon, green chiles and cheese with tomatillo sauce. Regular menu favorites include the Baja shrimp taco with cabbage slaw, pickled onions and jalapeños, cotija cheese, cilantro and chipotle sauce, and the Alabama Shake taco with catfish, poblano slaw, cotija cheese, peppadew peppers, cilantro and avocado sauce. Over the past month, Torchy's Taco has maintained a strong four-star rating among Yelpers. This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


Josh Duhamel linked to two beauties, Lamar Odom says he dated Taraji P. Henson, Jude Law has second wedding and more celeb love updates for late May 2019. Wonderwall.com is taking a look back at the stars who found love, suffered heartbreak or experienced some other major event in their love lives in late May 2019, starting with Josh Duhamel, who sparked rumors when he recently stepped out with a brunette mystery woman. Turns out she's Audra Mari, a fellow North Dakota native and winner of the Miss World America pageant in 2016. The 46-year-old actor and the 25-year-old beauty queen were spotted at Nobu in Malibu on May 27. (See photos of their outing here .) Just a few days earlier, the "Transformers" star and "The Dirt" actress Rebekah Graf sparked romance rumors when "Roswell, New Mexico" actor Tyler Blackburn took to Instagram to share a collage of photos from a recent trip to the Dominican Republic, including a shot in which Rebekah can be seen kissing Josh on the cheek. (It appears that the three actors were working on a mystery project together.) One of our all-time favorite former child stars Emma Watson touched off romance rumors with Alicia Keys' half-brother, Cole Cook, when they stepped out together at The Spotted Pig in New York City on May 21. ( DailyMail.com published photos of the pair during their night out on the town.) It's unclear, however, if the actress and the former audio engineer are an item or just friends. Now keep reading for more of the week's biggest celeb love life updates! In his book "Darkness to Light: A Memoir," which debuted on May 28, Lamar Odom reveals that he secretly romanced Taraji P. Henson, whom he met at a Hollywood party in 2008, and then cheated on her -- even though the period they dated was "one of the happiest times" of his life. "She was just such a wise woman that she could see right through whatever smooth act I was trying to put on. She refused to be just another conquest, and truthfully, I didn't want her to be," he wrote. "We started secretly dating and quickly fell in love," he continued, adding that he also spent time with the Oscar nominee's son, Marcel. (They also double dated with the "Empire" actress's "Benjamin Button" co-star Brad Pitt and his then-partner Angelina Jolie -- who thought the basketball star and the actress had been "together forever" -- on the evening of the 2009 Golden Globes .) "I don't think I ever connected with another black woman as deeply as I did Taraji. … Things were amazing, but of course, God gave me a layup and I blew it," he confessed, claiming that he felt guilty about cheating on Taraji but ultimately couldn't control his addiction to sex. "We continued to spend a lot of time together, and she was a big part of my life, even though I wasn't being faithful to her," he wrote, according to multiple media outlets. During an interview with " Extra! " that hit the Internet on May 29, Lamar said of his ex, "She was a good woman. She treated me well. At that time in my life, I think it was important to receive love from a black woman. It was deep, it was intense. It was a good time in my life." Also in his memoir, Lamar Odom admits that cheating was a "regular part" of his relationship with ex-wife Khloe Kardashian , whom he says he once threatened to kill in the midst of a drug-fueled rage. "I had broken my vows with Khloe so many times it's just impossible for me to remember them all," he wrote. "I don't know why Khloe stayed with me." During an interview with " Extra! " that hit the Internet on May 29, he said that the chapters about his infidelity were the hardest thing about writing his memoir. "I wish I would have treated her the right way," he said of his ex , adding that she reached out to him the previous day to say that she was surprised by some of the things he could remember from their time together. "When I see her in these other relationships and everything like that… I always felt she was still my girl," he added. The former basketball star then doubled down on his previous claim that Khloe didn't know that he was an addict until late in their relationship. "That's my angel," he said of the reality star and her support following his near-fatal overdose . "She's one of the reasons why I can walk and talk now." He also told Us Weekly that he'll "always" have love for Khloe, and when asked if the door is still open for them to have a relationship, he replied, "As far as I'm concerned, but that's a better question for her." The Daily Mail reported on May 27 that Jude Law and business psychologist Phillipa Coan, who quietly tied the knot in a simple civil ceremony in London on April 30, had a wedding for friends and family at the actor's parents' home in France over Memorial Day weekend. "It was a very beautiful ceremony and everyone had a great time," said a source. "Jude may have had his share of fun back in the day, but this was certainly a party he'll never forget." Among the 150 guests were the Oscar nominee's parents, sister and three oldest children, including musician-model Rafferty Law, who reportedly served as his dad's best man, and daughter Iris Law, who also models. Us Weekly reported on May 29 that, according to a source, Wilmer Valderrama is "casually dating" model Amanda Pacheco. The duo have been spotted together several times since late April -- most recently during a shopping trip in Los Angeles on May 19 (pictured). According to the source, the actor's superstar ex , Demi Lovato, knows about his new romance and "is being equally as supportive as Wilmer has been of her recent relationships." Added the insider, "Wilmer is still wrapped up in Demi and that's why they've always been so off and on and have continued their friendship as well as Wilmer's relationship with Demi's family." In the summer of 2018, the "That '70s Show" alum reportedly put his life on hold to support the singer-actress as she recovered from a near-fatal overdose . According to Page Six , Aly Raisman was spotted holding hands with country singer Chase Rice following his performance at the NHL's Stanley Cup Final Party at Boston's City Hall Plaza on May 27. Later, the duo sat together during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. A rep for the country crooner, however, told the New York Post's gossip column that he and the Olympic gymnast are just friends. Rooney Mara sparked rumors that she and Joaquin Phoenix had gotten engaged when she sported a massive sparkler during an otherwise casual shopping trip in Los Angeles on May 24 (pictured). The duo have been an item since late 2016. Cheryl Burke and Matthew Lawrence tied the knot at the Fairmont Grand del Mar hotel in San Diego on May 23. According to People magazine, which published exclusive photos from the nuptials, the bride donned a Romona Keveza gown with a six-foot train. Leah Remini served as her matron of honor, while Cheryl's sister Nicole and "Dancing With the Stars" colleague Kym Johnson Herjavec served as bridesmaids. The actor's two brothers, Joey Lawrence and Andy Lawrence, served as groomsmen. People magazine reported on May 29 that, according to a source, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez "are not doing a huge wedding" and will likely opt for "a small family celebration that will, of course, include all four kids." The source went on to say that the power couple, who got engaged in March, haven't set a wedding date yet . "They are talking about the wedding, but nothing is finalized," said the insider. During an interview with " Extra! " that hit the Internet on May 23, Christina Anstead dished on how she met her second husband , Ant Anstead: "We met through a mutual friend … [and] went on a blind date," she said, adding that they chatted on FaceTime for about two hours the first time they connected and then "met at a restaurant with a group of people." Gushed the mother of two, "It was love at first sight, and we've been together ever since." As for her relationship with her ex-husband , Tarek El Moussa, "Most importantly, we have kids together. … That's what really matters, is that we remain friends, especially for co-parenting. It just makes everyone's lives easier," said the "Flip or Flop" star. The Sun reported on May 25 that Brooklyn Beckham and his girlfriend of several months, Hana Cross, got into an explosive fight during the Cannes Film Festival in late May. "They were screaming and crying," said an alleged witness. "It was all very dramatic. They went to Cannes for a few days but started bickering almost straight away," said another insider. "Hana struggles with Brooklyn's fame and money and all that comes with dating a Beckham. Brooklyn gets jealous easily and didn't enjoy all the male attention she was getting. They had had a couple of drinks and started trading insults. They are both still young, so of course everything is very impassioned at that age. Things escalated quickly, and they were in each other's faces, screaming and crying. Hana confronted Brooklyn and lashed out, and security waded in. [His parents, David Beckham and Victoria Beckham] were contacted and made aware of the incident. Not surprisingly, they are seriously worried about the couple's toxic relationship and frustrated by all this humiliating public drama." The duo reportedly reconciled following the spat -- the latest in a series of public fights that have "seriously frustrated" Brooklyn's folks, according to the British tabloid, which should be taken with a grain of salt. "As any loving parent would be, David and Victoria are worried about just how volatile this relationship is," said yet another source, adding that the power couple wants their oldest son to ask his girlfriend to sign a nondisclosure agreement -- but Brooklyn has refused. After taking to Instagram on May 22 to shoot down Natalie Portman 's denial of his claims that they dated "for a few weeks" back in 2001, Moby returned to the social media platform on May 25 to apologize to the Oscar-winning actress. After deleting his first post about her and admitting that the public criticism of his decision to share stories about her in his memoir, "Then It Fell Apart," is "very valid," he wrote , "I also fully recognize that it was truly inconsiderate of me to not let her know about her inclusion in the book beforehand, and equally inconsiderate for me to not fully respect her reaction. I have a lot of admiration for Natalie, for her intelligence, creativity, and animal rights activism, and I hate that I might have caused her and her family distress. I tried to treat everyone I included in 'Then It Fell Apart' with dignity and respect, but nonetheless it was truly inconsiderate for me to not let them know before the book was released. So for that I apologize, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in 'Then It Fell Apart' without telling them beforehand. Also I accept that given the dynamic of our almost 14 year age difference I absolutely should've acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago." He issued another apology on May 28, writing , "I want to apologize again, and to say clearly that all of this has been my own fault. I am the one who released the book without showing it to the people I wrote about. I'm the one who posted defensively and arrogantly. I'm the one who behaved inconsiderately and disrespectfully, both in 2019 and in 1999. There is obviously no one else to blame but me. Thank you, and I'm sorry." Phaedra Parks and her boyfriend of less than a year, radio personality Tone Kapone, have called it quits, The Jasmine Brand reported exclusively on May 28. "There's no bad blood, it just didn't work out," said a source. Tone confirmed in January that he and the former star of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" were an item. Will Arnett has been dating fashion entrepreneur Alessandra Brawn "for several months," Us Weekly reported on May 23. The duo were first spotted together in March, though when they were caught on camera kissing , the paparazzi mistakenly identified the Robin Wright look-alike as the actor's ex, Elizabeth Law. It's unclear when exactly the "Arrested Development" star and the interior designer called it quits. Tasha Smith and Michael K. Williams are an item, they revealed on Instagram over Memorial Day weekend. "Nothing makes me happier!!!!! The love Of my life @bkbmg ❤❤❤ this man gives me goose bumps!!!!!" the "Empire" actress captioned a selfie with the former star of "The Wire," who shared the same shot of them hanging out by a pool in Atlanta. "I say word is born cause what I speak I manifest #lawofattraction," he captioned his version of the pic. The three-time Emmy nominee also shared a sweet shot of himself and Tasha laughing together while sitting by a koi pond. "The love is real!" he captioned a slideshow that also included a video showing off his matching Puma ensemble. It's unclear when exactly the pair started seeing each other. Maren Morris took to Twitter on May 28 to shoot down rumors that she and her husband of more than a year, Ryan Hurd, are in couples counseling. "I've openly talked about therapy and so has my husband and blogs turn my quotes into 'THEY'RE IN COUPLES COUNSELING.' Which even if we were, it'd be beautiful, but it's turned into complete clickbait BS and we're like, the D List of celebs," she tweeted. Porsha Williams sparked speculation that she and her fiancé , Dennis McKinley, had called it quits when she unfollowed him on Instagram -- which fans noticed on May 27, according to Us Weekly . The reality star's sister and mother also unfollowed the businessman, with whom she welcomed daughter Pilar Jhena in March. Kim Kardashian West took to Instagram in late May to mark her fifth wedding anniversary . "This was my wedding day almost 5 years ago in Italy. We flew in from Paris and our glam was rushed as we were trying to make it on time! We barely got my veil in as I was being pushed out the door so fast to walk down the aisle because Andrea Bocelli had started singing and I couldn't miss it. I had no idea it was really him until I got to the isle and screamed inside! So many amazing memories," she captioned the first of several slideshows of never-been-seen photos from her nuptials with Kanye West in Florence in May 2014. "A little behind the scenes from our wedding day 5 years ago," she captioned another slideshow . "5 years ago today I married my best friend," she captioned yet another slideshow . "KIMYE 4 EVA," she captioned a fourth slideshow . In other anniversary news... On May 25, Nick Jonas took to Instagram to celebrate the anniversary of his first date with his wife , Priyanka Chopra. "One year ago today I went to go see Beauty and the Beast at the Hollywood bowl with a group of friends. One of those friends was the woman that would become my best friend, my confidant, my muse, my beautiful wife. I am so grateful for our journey together so far. You make me smile every day and you inspire me to be the best version of myself. I am honored to be your husband. I love you. ❤ @priyankachopra," he captioned a photo of them during the Cannes Film Festival on May 18. Priyanka, meanwhile, took to her own Instagram page to reveal that her hubby gave her Mariah Carey concert tickets as an anniversary present. "The best husband ever. ... Even though he was busy and we were apart, he made sure I celebrated our one year anniversary with my fave!" she captioned a slideshow of photos and videos from the show, during which she met the superstar singer. "You will always be my baby @nickjonas Happy one year love!" she added in the caption. During an interview with news.com.au that hit the Internet on May 29, Chris Hemsworth dished on the things he does that annoy his wife of nearly a decade , Elsa Pataky : "What annoys her about me? … Probably if I surf a little long or stay out a little late from time to time. But that's usually because of traffic!" he said. "What would annoy her? I'm perfect, nothing. But I can't wait for you to ask her that question. She'll give you a long list of things!" When asked to share what the actress does that annoys him, the "Thor" star demurred: "Well, if she's reading this, 'nothing annoys me about her!'" he said. "I gotta make sure there is a place for me in the bed when I get back home." He added of their dynamic, "I can be pretty damn stubborn, so can she, which is probably where we tend to butt heads occasionally. … But we've done pretty well to still be trucking along quite nicely, all things considered. We both have strong opinions and also both have a great amount of enthusiasm for what we believe in." During a May 23 chat with E! News , former "The Bachelorette" star Becca Kufrin opened up about life with her fiancé of about a year, Garrett Yrigoyen, since she moved into his place near San Diego earlier this year: "It's my first time I've ever lived with a guy so it's been an adjustment," she said. "I was used to living on my own so now it's coordinating our schedules and our ways of living but it's been so fun." She went on to describe their "new normal," which includes home-cooked meals, hot-tub hangouts, sunset watching and game nights with Garrett's brother and sister-in-law. As for their upcoming nuptials, the former publicist said that they currently have no date or venue set. "All we know is we talked about having food trucks and a bunch of games. That's all we have set so far but nothing beyond that," she said. "I want to be able to enjoy the entire wedding planning process. I love to plan and coordinate and pick out unique details so whenever that finally happens, I want to make sure everything is perfect for us." She then gushed of her man, "One of my favorite things about him is his sense of humor. He can find the funny in everything. He keeps me laughing and smiling and that's really important. … He doesn't take life too seriously. When I'm down, he always lifts me up." Jenni " JWoww " Farley and her boyfriend , Zack Clayton Carpinello, made their red carpet debut at Hakkasan nightclub in Las Vegas on May 25. Earlier in the day, the wrestler called the reality star "the love of my life" on his Instagram Story. On the May 24 episode of Kaitlyn Bristowe's " Off the Vine " podcast, the former star of "The Bachelorette" and her boyfriend , Jason Tartick, revealed that he's moving in with her in Nashville. The duo also revealed that they adopted a dog together, a golden retriever who was rescued from South Korea. On the May 28 episode of her podcast, Kaitlyn dished on the online "relationship reset course" she and Jason recently took because they thought "it would be fun just to do it to get to know each other and know what our strengths are and our weaknesses are and the shadows we live in from our childhood." Said the reality star, "It got into tough conversations and money and things that happen to you that can lead into how you behave in a relationship and it was so important and I learned so much and he learned so much and it's those tough conversations that will set you up for success in a marriage and in a healthy relationship." Quavo and Saweetie are talking marriage! The duo attended the Migos rapper's sister's wedding in the Atlanta area on May 26 -- and Saweetie caught the bride's bouquet! "G U E S S W E N E X T," Quavo captioned a video on Instagram depicting the big moment. "Yesssssir," his girlfriend wrote in the comments. "Dancing with the Stars: Juniors" host Jordan Fisher proposed to his childhood bestie and longtime love Ellie Woods at her parents' beach house in their hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, on May 20. "5/20/19 - I asked my best friend a question...and she said yes. 😍 I love you so much, Ellie Woods. Can't wait to make you my wife MY WIFE," the singer-actor, who starred in "Rent: Live," captioned an Instagram video depicting the proposal. After he popped the question with a 2.75-carat, pear-shaped solitaire diamond ring, the duo celebrated their engagement with friends and family. They plan to tie the knot sometime next year, they told People magazine: "A year gives us plenty of time for us to plan a wedding without it being super stressful," said Jordan. "We want it to be fun and full of love and excitement." It's been months since Jordan Kimball and Jenna Cooper -- who got engaged on the finale of Season 5 of "Bachelor in Paradise" in September 2018 but called things off after she allegedly cheated, which she's denied -- took aim at each other in the press . On May 29, however, Us Weekly reported that Jenna is writing a book telling her side of the story. "I know America has heard some of the obnoxious lies about me from Bachelor Nation's most thirsty contestants and gossip blogs. But now it's my turn. I have gone to great lengths to prove that all of these accusations were false," she said. The blonde beauty also told the tabloid that after Jordan proposed to her, he "blindsided" her by revealing that he had a girlfriend. "He said he needed to break things off with her because we got engaged, and as soon as he got his phone back he ignored me and spent hours outside talking to her. I was confused, and he couldn't really explain himself," she said. Jordan responded to his ex's allegations in a statement: "This is false. I'm not entertaining anything she says. … It's almost been a year and she is still at it. What a nightmare," he told Us Weekly. During an interview with Us Weekly that hit the Internet on May 28, Paris Hilton opened up about single life following her late 2018 split from Chris Zylka, to whom she got engaged in December 2017. "I've been traveling so much that I literally have no time for anything but myself, my work and my [new music]," she said, adding that her schedule makes it "really hard to have a relationship." Continued the DJ-entrepreneur, "I'm so busy right now that I can't even think of [dating]." As for the type of man she'd like to settle down with in the future, "I want someone … who's my best friend, who is loyal, who I could trust and who would never lie or hurt me … just someone who would be there to be your best friend," she said. "[Worrying is] just the worst feeling in the world if you don't trust someone. I'm too busy. I'm running too many businesses to have to worry about that. Life is too short!" Jacob Zachar married set costumer Brittany Saberhagen at Triunfo Creek Vineyards in Los Angeles on May 25, according to People magazine. Guests included the groom's former "Greek" co-stars Amber Stevens West, Jesse McCartney and Jake McDorman. "Today" show contributor Jill Martin got engaged to her boyfriend of two years, Erik Brooks, on the beach in the Hamptons on May 23. "I'm over the moon. I have not stopped staring at [my engagement ring]. I wake up in the middle of the night and think, 'Was that a dream?'" the bride-to-be told Page Six on May 28. She and her beau met on a dating app. "Bringing Up Bates" star Carlin Bates married Evan Stewart in front of 500 guests at Castleton Farms in Tennessee on May 25. According to Us Weekly , the bride's father, Gil Bates, helped officiate the ceremony, while her 18 siblings served as bridesmaids, groomsmen, ushers, flower girls and ring bearers. Former "19 Kids and Counting" star Joy-Anna Forsyth (née Duggar) also served as a bridesmaid. During an interview with People magazine that hit the Internet on May 25, "Southern Charm New Orleans" star Reagan Charleston revealed that she secretly married Reece Thomas, with whom she's expecting a baby girl in June. Their nuptials will appear on the second season of the Bravo reality show. The duo dated in college -- more than a decade ago -- and rekindled their romance after Reagan separated from first husband Jeff Charleston in mid-2018. Celebrity hairstylist Riawna Capri and her fiancée , Morgan Beau, hosted an engagement dinner for friends and family -- including Nina Dobrev, Julianne Hough, Jamie Lynn Sigler, John Stamos and Steven Tyler -- in Los Angeles over Memorial Day weekend. The bash featured a three-course meal prepared by Snap Kitchen's Executive Chef Michael Sabrin (pictured with the brides-to-be).


Pittsburgh is predicted to see light rainfall this coming week, according to drone-powered weather forecasting service Saildrone . Today's forecast shows the greatest possibility of rain at 99 percent, while the most rainfall is expected on Saturday at 0.92 inches. The immediate forecast also has mild temperatures in store for today, with a high of 73 degrees. Temperatures will reach a high of 80 degrees on Wednesday, and remain warm through Sunday. Skies will be mostly cloudy tomorrow. Winds will reach a modest high of 13 mph today, but will calm beginning tomorrow. This story was created automatically using Saildrone's local weather forecast data, then reviewed by an editor. We also incorporate historic weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


Scott Dixon put his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda on top in opening practice for Saturday night's DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, but the two hour race was cut to 65 minutes due to torrential rain. Three-time Texas winner Dixon lapped the 1.5-mile oval in 23.638sec, an average of 219.308mph to lead the two Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Hondas of Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal. 2017 Texas polesitter Charlie Kimball led the Chevrolet runners with a 217.503mph lap for Carlin Racing, topping Team Penske's fastest car, the #12 of Will Power. Alexander Rossi was sixth for Andretti Autosport, and was followed by a semi-teammate   the Harding Steinbrenner Racing entry of Colton Herta   and two full-scale teammates Zach Veach and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Owner/driver and former Texas winner Ed Carpenter completed the top 10, while Conor Daly driving the second Carlin entry for the first time as replacement for Max Chilton, was 22 nd and last. Based on testing at Texas last October and last March, and to prevent the blistering issues that several drivers complained about in this race last year, Firestone has brought a faster-wearing right-side compound that is more heat resistant, but has also brought an even softer one as back-up. Cara Adams, chief engineer of Bridgestone Americas Motorsports, told Motorsport.com: "We'll only use that [softer] compound if we see blistering. Unless we see anything that affects the whole field that is significant, we won't run them. But they have them mounted and are by the pitwall so if we make that call, that's what they'll use." Harding Steinbrenner was the only team that suffered blisters in the one-hour session. ClaDriverTeamLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 25 23.6380 219.308 2 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 36 23.6429 0.0049 0.0049 219.262 3 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 23.7459 0.1079 0.1030 218.311 View full results


IndyCar driver Patricio O'Ward admits he is now targeting a move "straight into Formula 1" following his induction into the Red Bull junior programme. O'Ward, who is currently contesting a part-time IndyCar schedule with Carlin after triumphing in feeder category Indy Lights in 2018, was announced as the latest addition to the Red Bull Junior Team on Thursday . The 20-year-old has been a regular on the American single-seater racing scene since 2015 but, speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, O'Ward confirmed he believes an opportunity in grand prix racing could be on the cards. "Things moved pretty fast," O'Ward said. "There might be a [F1] chance soon. I'm very proud of what I've managed, but I also want to thank Trevor Carlin because he opened the door to IndyCar for me, and that opened the door to F1. "It's something very big, but I'm ready, I have faith in what I can do. We know that if I get the results, I have what it takes to reach F1; arrive and succeed. The idea is to go straight into F1." Patricio O'Ward, Carlin Chevrolet Photo by: Jake Galstad / LAT Images Despite having made just four IndyCar starts so far, O'Ward has already managed to impress in the United States' premier open-wheel category, beginning with his ninth-place finish on his debut in the Sonoma finale last year. O'Ward says his IndyCar efforts were what led to him being contacted by Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, who is in charge of the company's junior programme. "Everything happened because of Helmut Marko's interest. He called me mid-April, he wanted to know me. I met him, he asked me several questions, he wanted to sign me. They sent me a contract and basically they hired me. "This is something big, and for now after the Indy 500 I only have road races in IndyCar, so we have to see what options come up from F1. "It was a chance too big to miss, to be able to move to F1. The difference is that often the window to enter F1 is not as big as it is with IndyCar. "Now the doors [to F1] are open, I want to focus on having good races and, in the future, be able to return to IndyCar [after a stint in F1]. You never know what's going to happen." Tost: O'Ward would boost F1 Any F1 opportunity for O'Ward would likely arise with Red Bull's junior team Toro Rosso, which currently employs rookie Alexander Albon and the returning Daniil Kvyat. Should a space open up at Toro Rosso, O'Ward would be rivalled for the chance by fellow Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum, who is testing with Red Bull's senior team in Barcelona next week. Doubts remain over O'Ward's exact current tally of F1 superlicence points, as it is not clear whether he can earn points from his IMSA Prototype Challenge title in 2017, and whether his campaigns in Pro Mazda and Indy Lights comply with minimum grid size requirements. Speaking to Sky Sports at the Spanish Grand Prix, Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost clarified that there have been no talks over a free practice outing for O'Ward just yet, and stressed that he did not believe the Mexican currently qualifies for a superlicence. "I would be more than happy to have him in Toro Rosso, because this would increase the interest of [North] American fans for F1, which we need, because as you know Liberty Media is pushing," Tost added. To really increase the interest we need a national hero." Should O'Ward succeed in his imminent pursuit of an F1 drive, he would become the first driver to move directly from from Indy car racing to F1 since Sebastien Bourdais made a similar move in 2008 after winning four Champ Car titles. Additional reporting by Adam Cooper


The Golden State Warriors found themselves trailing the Toronto Raptors 59-54 at halftime and already trailed the NBA Finals 0-1. They had to dig deep missing superstar Kevin Durant and avoid an 0-2 hole and they certainly dug deep enough to explode the way they did to open the third quarter. The Warriors uncorked a ridiculous 20-0 run stemming from the end of the second quarter and take control of the game in the second half. It was a dizzying array of ball movement, player movement off the ball, and shot making to confuse the Raptors and take their spirit. The 20-0 run was the longest in the Finals by any team since the NBA/ABA merger. The Warriors turned the game with a 20-0 run, the longest by any team in a Finals game since the NBA/ABA merger (1976-77) (h/t @EliasSports ) - ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 3, 2019 The end result was a 109-104 win to earn the 1-1 split as this series now shifts to Oracle Arena in The Bay for Games 3 and 4. You can point to this 20-0 run and this team's willingness to sacrifice for each other and come away with a big win. With the possibility of Durant returning for Game 3, the Warriors have to like their chances of winning that game and taking control of this series. MORE: A spoiler-filled 'Jeopardy!' clip leaked, and it appears to show the fate of James Holzhauer Darnell Savage, Josh Jackson could unlock full potential of Packers secondary Roundup: Google and Amazon Facing Antitrust Scrutiny, Cruise Ship Crash Video, $344 Powerball Winner Raiders WR Tyrell Williams named 'breakout star' of OTAs Report: Suns, Bulls offering lottery picks for Lonzo Ball


So you've been asked to attend a wedding. You've marked the date in your calendar and sent off your RSVP , but you probably haven't given much thought to faux pas. If you're not part of the wedding party, you could be forgiven for thinking that all you have to do is turn up and have a ball. To a certain extent, that's right, but attending a loved one's wedding is a real honor, and you don't want that person to regret sending you an invitation. To keep you in good graces, here are some wedding guest faux pas to avoid. 1. Getting Drunk and Making a Scene An open bar can be a recipe for disaster. Whether due to social nerves or an eagerness to get into a celebratory mood, you may be tempted to hit the booze hard. Around 17 percent of guests admit to getting inebriated at someone else's wedding, according to one survey by Wedding Wire. Bu consuming too much could mean that you accidentally make a scene, say the wrong thing, or even fall over and hurt yourself. Find a responsible drinking buddy who will help make sure you party hard, but drink in moderation. 2. Wearing a White Dress As a woman, there's one major wedding guest fashion faux pas you should avoid at all costs wearing white. The last thing you want to do is look like you were attempting to steal limelight from the bride. While there are exceptions to this rule some couples do decide to throw an all-white affair  in most cases, play it safe and opt for a colorful alternative. 3. Arriving Late to the Ceremony If you've ever planned a wedding, you'll know the goal is to have it run like clockwork. Most brides and grooms plan their day down to the last minute. The least you can do as a guest is have the courtesy to arrive on time (if not early!) to the ceremony. Don't be part of the 18 percent of guests who admitted they've arrived late, according to the Wedding Wire survey. 4. Bringing an Uninvited Plus-One Plus-ones are like gold dust. If your invitation didn't specify you have one, it's fair to assume you don't. The average cost of a wedding guest is $140, according to recent research by Value Penguin. If you show up with an unexpected date, you're basically asking the bride and groom to shell out a $140 bucks they didn't budget for  and you run the risk of your date not getting enough food or having a place to sit! (Not cute.) 5. Making a Grand Announcement Do you have some exciting news of your own? Perhaps you're pregnant or newly engaged . You might be thrilled to share this, but making any type of major personal proclamation at someone else's wedding is a serious mistake. Regardless of intentions, this move will look as though you're attempting to make the event about you. 6. Being Glued to Your Phone Screen Addicted to your smartphone? Phubbing  a social phenomenon in which you snub people in favor of your phone is common, but still an absolute no-no at weddings. What's more, 8 percent of guests have had their phones ring during a ceremony, according to the survey. The safest, most polite thing to do is turn your phone off, but at the very least, you should switch it to silent mode. 7. Taking More Than One Favor The favors table may be brimming with exciting treats to take home, but when you saunter over to collect yours, please don't sneakily steal an extra one. Almost a quarter of guests admit to doing this, according to the survey, but it's quite inconsiderate. And while it may not seem like a big deal at the time, it could mean that another guest goes home empty-handed. 8. Talking During the Toasts As the night goes on, you might start to feel very merry. However, when the toasts and speeches begin, you must cease all chatting with old chums, newfound friends, or your date. The wedding party members have likely been planning what to say for months. Listening to their speeches however long they may be is common courtesy. 9. Hitting on a Member of the Wedding Party Wedding receptions are their own special brand of aphrodisiac. There's something about watching two people make the biggest commitment of their lives that speaks to the inner romantic in all of us. Still, whether you're interested in one of the groomsmen or bridesmaids, putting the moves on a wedding party attendant is undeniably clichéd. These particular guests have a variety of duties to see to during the event, which means they could do without your advances. 10. Staying Far Too Late Toward the end of the reception, the songs will become slower and guests will begin to filter out. That's your cue to leave. You may have been the life and soul of the party earlier in the evening, but the bride and groom have other business to attend to now. When you see the event is coming to a natural close, take the hint and say your goodbyes. Related video: Wedding etiquette isn't hard, but just in case, here are eight tips (provided by People)


I. M. Pei, who began his long career designing buildings for a New York real estate developer and ended it as one of the most revered architects in the world, died early Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 102. His death was confirmed by his son Li Chung Pei, who is also an architect and known as Sandi. He said his father had recently celebrated his birthday with a family dinner. Best known for designing the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the glass pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre in Paris, Mr. Pei was one of the few architects who were equally attractive to real estate developers, corporate chieftains and art museum boards (the third group, of course, often made up of members of the first two). And all of his work   from his commercial skyscrapers to his art museums   represented a careful balance of the cutting edge and the conservative. Sign Up for the Morning Briefing Newsletter Mr. Pei, with his gracious but firm air, was a committed modernist throughout his life, and while none of his buildings could ever be called old-fashioned or traditional, his particular brand of modernism   clean, reserved, sharp-edged and unapologetic in its use of simple geometries and its aspirations to monumentality   sometimes seemed to be precisely that, at least when compared with the latest architectural trends. This hardly bothered him. What he valued most in architecture, he said, was that it "stand the test of time." He maintained that he wanted not just to solve problems but also to produce "an architecture of ideas." He worried, he added, "that ideas and professional practice do not intersect enough." Mr. Pei, who was born in China and moved to the United States in the 1930s, was hired by William Zeckendorf in 1948, shortly after he received his graduate degree in architecture from Harvard, to oversee the design of buildings produced by Zeckendorf's firm, Webb & Knapp. At a time when most of his Harvard classmates considered themselves fortunate to get to design a single-family house or two, Mr. Pei quickly found himself engaged in the design of high-rise buildings, and he used that experience as a springboard to establish his own firm, I. M. Pei & Associates, which he set up in 1955 with Henry Cobb and Eason Leonard, the team he had assembled at Webb & Knapp. In its early years, I. M. Pei & Associates mainly executed projects for Zeckendorf, including Kips Bay Plaza in New York, finished in 1963; Society Hill Towers in Philadelphia (1964); and Silver Towers in New York (1967). All were notable for their gridded concrete facades. The firm became fully independent from Webb & Knapp in 1960, by which time Mr. Pei, a cultivated man whose quiet, understated manner and easy charm masked an intense, competitive ambition, was winning commissions for major projects that had nothing to do with Zeckendorf. Among these were the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., completed in 1967, and the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse and the Des Moines Art Center, both finished in 1968. They were the first in a series of museums he designed that would come to include the East Building (1978) and the Louvre pyramid (1989) as well as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, for which he designed what amounted to a huge glass tent in 1995. It was perhaps his most surprising commission. Mr. Pei, not a rock 'n' roll fan, initially turned down that job. After he changed his mind, he prepared for the challenge of expressing the spirit of the music by traveling to rock concerts with Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone. The Cleveland project would not be Mr. Pei's last unlikely museum commission: His museum oeuvre would culminate in the call to design the Museum of Islamic Art, in Doha, Qatar, in 2008, a challenge Mr. Pei accepted with relish. A longtime collector of Western Abstract Expressionist art, he admitted to knowing little about Islamic art. As with the rock museum, Mr. Pei saw the Qatar commission as an opportunity to learn about a culture he did not claim to understand. He began his research by reading a biography of the Prophet Muhammad, and then commenced a tour of great Islamic architecture around the world. Bold Yet Pragmatic While the waffle-like concrete facades of the Zeckendorf buildings were an early signature of his, Mr. Pei soon moved beyond concrete to a more sculptural but equally modernist approach. Throughout his long career he combined a willingness to use bold, assertive forms with a pragmatism born in his years with Zeckendorf, and he alternated between designing commercial projects and making a name for himself in other architectural realms. Besides his many art museums, he designed concert halls, academic structures, hospitals, office towers and civic buildings like the Dallas City Hall, completed in 1977; the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, finished in 1979; and the Guggenheim Pavilion of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, finished in 1992. (I. M. Pei & Associates eventually became I. M. Pei & Partners. And in 1990, when Mr. Pei reduced his involvement to devote most of his time to a separate firm, the Pei Partnership, which he had founded with two of his sons, the Pei firm was renamed Pei Cobb Freed.) When Mr. Pei was invited to design the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, he had the opportunity to demonstrate his belief that modernism was capable of producing buildings with the gravitas, the sense of permanence and the popular appeal of the greatest traditional structures. When the building opened in 1978, Ada Louise Huxtable, the senior architecture critic of The New York Times, hailed it as the most important building of the era, and she called Mr. Pei, at least by implication, the pre-eminent architect of the time. Most other critics also praised Mr. Pei's angular structure of glass and marble, constructed out of the same Tennessee marble as John Russell Pope's original National Gallery Building of 1941, reshaped into a building of crisp, angular forms set around a triangular courtyard. Mr. Pei, many critics said, had found a way to get beyond both the casual, temporal air and the coldness of much modern architecture, and to create a building that was both boldly monumental and warmly inviting, even exhilarating. In 1979, the year after the National Gallery was completed, Mr. Pei received the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, its highest honor. At the same time that he was receiving plaudits in Washington, however, Mr. Pei was recovering from one of the most devastating setbacks any architect of his generation had faced anywhere: the nearly total failure of one of his most conspicuous projects, the 700-foot-tall John Hancock Tower at Copley Square in Boston. Slideshow by photo services A thin, elegant slab of bluish glass designed by his partner Henry Cobb, it was nearing completion in 1973 when sheets of glass began popping out of its facade. They were quickly replaced with plywood, but before the source of the problem could be detected, nearly a third of the glass had fallen out, creating both a professional embarrassment and an enormous legal liability for Mr. Pei and his firm. The fault, experts believed, was not in the Pei design but in the glass itself: The Hancock Tower was one of the first high-rise buildings to use a new type of reflective, double-paned glass. The building ultimately won numerous awards, including the American Institute of Architects' 25-Year Award. But it took eight years of legal wrangling, millions of dollars and the replacement of all 10,344 panes of glass in the facade before the Hancock's troubles could be put to rest and the building could be appreciated as one of the most beautiful skyscrapers of the late 20th century. The problems delayed its opening by three years, its temporary plywood windows a constant reminder to all Boston of its troubles, which cost I. M. Pei & Partners so many clients that Mr. Pei almost had to close the firm. "The glass company had a lot of money, and Hancock had a lot of money, but we didn't have a lot of money," he told The Times in 2007. The long struggle to resolve the problems at the Hancock, and the fallout from the crisis, made the 1970s, despite the triumph of the National Gallery in Washington, a bittersweet decade for Mr. Pei. Although he was correct that his firm lacked the funds of the huge corporations he was struggling with, he was not without substantial resources, at least for an architect. Son of a Banker Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Canton (now Guangzhou) on April 26, 1917, the son of Tsuyee Pei, one of China's leading bankers. When he was an infant, his father moved the family to Hong Kong to assume the head position at the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China, and when Ieoh Ming was 9, his father was put in charge of the larger branch in Shanghai. He remembered being fascinated by the construction of a 25-story hotel. "I couldn't resist looking into the hole," he recalled in 2007. "That's when I knew I wanted to build." He was brought up in a well-to-do household that was steeped in both Chinese tradition   he spent summers in a country village, where his father's family had lived for more than 500 years, learning the rites of ancestor worship   and Western sophistication. Deciding to attend college in the United States, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. But when he concluded that he was not up to the classical drawing techniques then being taught at Penn, he transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he received a bachelor of architecture degree in 1940. At the recommendation of his father, who was concerned about the threat of war and the growing possibility of a Communist revolution in China, he postponed his plan to return home. Instead he enrolled at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, where he studied under the German modernist architect Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School. Discovering that there were relatively few men at Harvard during the war years   "It was me, a Chinese national, and the ladies," he once recalled   he decided to join the war effort and volunteered to work for the National Defense Research Committee in Princeton, N.J., where he became an expert on fusing bombs. "They figured if you knew how to build buildings, you knew how to destroy them," Mr. Pei said. While he was at M.I.T., Mr. Pei met another Chinese national, Eileen Loo, who had come to the United States in 1938 to study art at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Like Mr. Pei, she was from a distinguished Chinese family. The two married as soon as she graduated, in 1942. Eileen Pei began graduate work in landscape architecture at Harvard while her husband worked toward his advanced architecture degree, which he received in 1946. He taught briefly at Harvard and planned to return to China in time. But then he was approached by Zeckendorf, who was looking for a talented young architect to head a new in-house design team. Mr. Pei, refined and genteel, could not have been more different on the surface from the brash Zeckendorf. But the men shared a bold ambition, a love of French wine and a belief that architecture could improve cities. Mr. Pei decided to make the move to New York. He, his wife and their two young sons left Cambridge, Mass., and settled in an apartment on Beekman Place in Manhattan. The Zeckendorf years were a heady beginning for Mr. Pei's career. Before long he had hired one of his former students at Harvard, Henry Cobb, who would remain associated with him for more than 60 years. The architect Ulrich Franzen also began his career working under Mr. Pei at Webb & Knapp, where the architecture department had charge of large-scale projects in New York, Washington, Montreal, Denver, Boston and other cities. No matter how committed William Zeckendorf was to Mr. Pei's designs, however, he was still a commercial real estate developer, and Mr. Pei did not want to spend his entire career working for someone else. With Zeckendorf's blessing he began to seek some outside commissions, including the Luce Memorial Chapel in Taiwan and the Green Earth Sciences building at M.I.T., and he gradually began to separate himself from his patron. When Zeckendorf's empire ran into serious financial problems in 1960, that became a good excuse to turn I. M. Pei & Associates into a fully independent firm. The Choice of the Kennedys Mr. Pei quickly began to gather both large and small architectural assignments, among them the National Airlines terminal at what is now John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, and the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library in Columbus, Ind., a city famous for its architecture. But the commission that truly thrust Mr. Pei into the forefront of American architects was for a building that would take 15 years to build and would bring him a sense of triumph and frustration in equal parts: the John F. Kennedy Library. He was chosen in 1964 by Jacqueline Kennedy (later Onassis), who liked the fact that he was young   he and John F. Kennedy were born just a month apart   and only beginning to come into his own. His selection over Louis Kahn, Philip Johnson, Gordon Bunshaft and Paul Rudolph made it clear that he was no longer viewed as a developer's architect but as a major talent on his own. But political objections to the library's original site in Cambridge delayed the project for years, and by the time it was built, both the new site, at Columbia Point in Boston Harbor, and the scaled-down design represented major compromises. During the years the Kennedy Library was being planned, the Pei firm grew rapidly. There were still more museums, like the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, and large urban complexes like the Christian Science Center in Boston, as well as the project that would bring Mr. Pei his greatest notoriety in Boston, the John Hancock Tower, and the museum that would bring him his greatest acclaim, the East Building of the National Gallery. As his firm grew in size and prestige   it would eventually employ 300 people   Mr. Pei seemed to become the quintessential New Yorker. He and his wife and family, which grew to include three sons and a daughter, moved to a townhouse on Sutton Place, facing the East River, where he remained for the rest of his life. He became an avid collector of postwar American art, and his townhouse contained works by Morris Louis, Dubuffet and de Kooning; he also designed a weekend house for his family in Katonah, N.Y., in Westchester County, where he installed a 16-foot-high sculpture by Anthony Caro. Mr. Pei never played down his connections to China. His children were all given Chinese names, and when he won the Pritzker Prize in 1983, widely viewed as the highest honor a living architect can receive, he used the $100,000 award to establish a scholarship fund for Chinese architecture students. His eldest son, T'ing Chung, died in 2003. His wife of 72 years, Eileen, died in 2014. In addition to his son Li Chung, who is known as Sandi, he is survived by another son, Chien Chung, also an architect, who is known as Didi; his daughter, Liane; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mr. Pei did not go back to China until 1974, when he returned as part of a cultural exchange tour organized by the American Institute of Architects. There, he did not hesitate to criticize the banal, Soviet-influenced architecture that he saw, and he gave a talk in which he urged the Chinese to look back at their own traditions rather than "slavishly following Eastern European patterns." The criticism did not deter the Chinese government from inviting Mr. Pei, by then the most famous Chinese-born architect in the world, back again, this time to design a group of high-rise hotels in the center of Beijing. He declined, saying that he feared such buildings would deface the city. The government, not willing to let him get away so easily, then offered him a rural site outside the city and asked him to design a resort hotel there. This time he said yes, and produced the design for Fragrant Hill, a sprawling building in which he tried to combine the geometric modernism of his other buildings with elements from traditional Chinese architecture. It was the first of a few attempts Mr. Pei made to acknowledge the growing interest of many architects in reusing historical form; in a similar vein, he would later design a high-rise hotel in Manhattan, the Regent (now the Four Seasons), which tried to evoke the romantic, stepped-back forms of prewar New York skyscrapers. The opening of Fragrant Hill was a major international event. Jacqueline Onassis, whose friendship with Mr. Pei remained strong throughout the years of delay over the Kennedy Library, attended, as did Carter Brown, the director of the National Gallery. But Mr. Pei later admitted that he considered the building, which was poorly constructed and not well maintained, a disappointment. In 1982, Mr. Pei would have a very different kind of opportunity in China when the governors of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, the bank his father had once run, traveled to New York to meet with Tsuyee Pei, who had long since left China and was living in Manhattan. Their mission was to ask the senior Pei, in a demonstration of traditional Chinese etiquette, if he would agree to allow them to invite his son to design a new skyscraper headquarters for the bank in Hong Kong. (Tsuyee Pei was bitterly opposed to the Communist Chinese government, but he did not stand in the way of his son's taking the job.) It would turn out to be one of Mr. Pei's most notable towers, a narrow 70-story composition of triangular and diamond shapes, built of glass and steel. A Pyramid as a Portal Mr. Pei would make his biggest international mark, however, in France, with a smaller but far more contentious project. In the early 1980s President François Mitterand, an admirer of the East Building at the National Gallery, invited Mr. Pei to update and expand the Louvre Museum, which was sorely in need of renovation to accommodate a huge increase in visitors. Mr. Pei proposed building a glass pyramid in the center of the ancient Cour Napoleon to serve as a new main entrance to the museum. He quickly found himself in the center of an international controversy, accused of defacing one of the world's great landmarks. He argued that his glass pyramid was merely an updated version of a traditional form, and that his redesigned courtyard had been influenced by the geometric work of the French landscape architect Le Notre. It was rigorously rational, in other words, and in that sense classically French. What carried the day, however, was not Mr. Pei's argument, true as it may have been, but President Mitterand's determination. The pyramid opened in the spring of 1989, and the elegance of the finished building, not to mention its geometric precision, won over most, if not all, of its opponents. Within a few years the pyramid had become an accepted, and generally admired, symbol of a re-energized Paris. And like the Kennedy Library, the John Hancock Tower and another controversial Pei project from the 1980s, the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, it stood as a measure not just of I. M. Pei's design talent but also of his patience and perseverance.