Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, the unstoppable running back who retired at the peak of his brilliant career to become an actor as well as a prominent civil rights advocate during the 1960s, has died. He was 87.

A spokeswoman for Brown’s family said he passed away peacefully in his Los Angeles home on Thursday night with his wife, Monique, by his side.

“To the world, he was an activist, actor, and football star,” Monique Brown wrote in an Instagram post. “To our family, he was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken.”

One of the greatest players in football history and one of the game’s first superstars, Brown was chosen the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and shattered the league’s record books in a short career spanning 1957-65.

Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964 before retiring in his prime after the ’65 season to become an actor. He appeared in more than 30 films, including “Any Given Sunday” and “The Dirty Dozen.”

Click here if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile device

An unstoppable runner with power, speed and endurance, Brown’s arrival sparked the game’s burgeoning popularity on television.

As Black Americans fought for equality, Brown used his platform and voice to advance their cause.

In 1967, Brown organized a meeting in Cleveland of the nation’s top Black athletes, including Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor, who later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to support boxer Muhammad Ali’s fight against the war in Vietnam.

In later years, he worked to curb gang violence in LA and founded Amer-I-Can, a program to help disadvantaged inner-city youth and ex-convicts.

“Jim Brown is a true icon of not just the Cleveland Browns but the entire NFL,” said Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam. “He was certainly the greatest to ever put on a Browns uniform and arguably one of the greatest players in NFL history. Jim was one of the reasons the Browns have such a tremendous fan base today.

“So many people grew up watching him just dominate every time he stepped onto the football field but his countless accolades on the field only tell a small part of his story. His commitment to making a positive impact for all of humanity off the field is what he should also be known for.”

On the field, there was no one like Brown, who would blast through would-be tacklers, refusing to let one man take him down before sprinting away from linebackers and defensive backs. He was also famous for using a stiff arm to shed defenders in the open field or push them away like they were rag dolls.

“My arms were like my protectors and weapons,” Brown said during an interview with NFL Films.

Indeed, Brown was unlike any back before him, and some feel there has never been anyone better than Cleveland’s incomparable No. 32. At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, he was dominant, relentless and without mercy, his highlight reels featuring runs around and right through opponents, fighting for every yard, dragging multiple defenders along or finding holes where none seemed to exist.

After Brown was tackled, he’d slowly rise and walk even more slowly back to the huddle — then dominate the defense when he got the ball again.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell offered his condolences on behalf of the league.

“Jim Brown was a gifted athlete — one of the most dominant players to ever step on any athletic field — but also a cultural figure who helped promote change,” Goodell said. “During his nine-year NFL career, which coincided with the civil rights movement here at home, he became a forerunner and role model for athletes being involved in social initiatives outside their sport.”

Off the field, Brown was a contentious character.

While he had a soft spot for those in need, and his generosity changed lives, he also was arrested a half-dozen times, mostly on charges of hitting women.

In June 1999, Brown’s wife, Monique, called 911, saying Brown had smashed her car with a shovel and threatened to kill her. During the trial, Monique Brown recanted. Jim Brown was acquitted of a charge of domestic threats but convicted of misdemeanor vandalism. The Los Angeles judge sentenced Brown to six months in jail when he refused to attend domestic violence counseling.

He also feuded with Browns coach Paul Brown and later with the team’s management, although he played his entire career with Cleveland.

When his playing days ended, Brown set off for Hollywood and eventually settled there. Brown advised Cleveland coach Blanton Collier of his retirement while the team was in training camp and he was on the set of “The Dirty Dozen” in England.

Among his films were “100 Rifles,” “Mars Attacks!” Spike Lee’s “He Got Game,” Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday,” and the satire “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” in which he parodied the blaxploitation genre. In 2002, Brown was the subject of Lee’s HBO documentary “Jim Brown: All-American.”

In recent years, Brown’s relationship with the Browns was inconsistent. He served as an adviser to owner Randy Lerner and was hired to counsel the team’s younger players. However, in 2010, Brown parted ways with the team after having his role reduced by incoming team president Mike Holmgren. Brown felt slighted by the perceived demotion — when the club unveiled a “Ring of Honor” inside its downtown stadium, Brown didn’t attend the ceremony in protest.

The Browns erected a statue of Brown outside their stadium in 2016.

Brown was an eight-time All-Pro and went to the Pro Bowl in each of his nine years in the league. When Brown walked away from the game at age 30, he held the league’s records for yards (12,312) and touchdowns (126).

And despite his bruising style, Browns never missed a game, playing in 118 straight.

“He told me, ‘Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts,’” said Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey. “He lived by that philosophy and I always followed that advice.”

A two-sport star at Syracuse — some say he is the best lacrosse player in NCAA history — Brown endured countless racist taunts while playing at the virtually all-white school at the time. Still, he was an All-American in both sports, leading the nation in scoring, and lettered in basketball.

Brown was the sixth overall pick of the 1957 draft, joining a team that routinely played for the title. He was the Offensive Rookie of the Year that season.

Running behind an offensive line featuring Hall of Fame tackles Lou Groza and Mike McCormack, Brown set a league mark with 1,527 yards and scored 17 TDs on his way to the league’s Most Outstanding Player award — a precursor to the MVP — in 1958. Over the next three seasons, he never ran for less than 1,257 yards before picking up just 996 in 1962.

He led the NFL in rushing eight times, gaining a career-best 1,863 yards in 1963. He averaged 104 yards per game, scored 106 rushing touchdowns and averaged an astonishing 5.2 yards per carry. A dangerous receiver as well, Brown finished with 262 catches for 2,499 yards and another 20 TDs.

“I’ve said many times, and I will always say, Jim Brown is the best,” Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers once said, “and he will still be the best long after all his records are broken.”

Packers great Paul Hornung felt Brown was unstoppable.

“Give me Jim Brown over anybody — at anything,” he said.

Brown’s No. 32 was retired by the Browns in ’71, the same year he entered the Hall of Fame. But he rarely visited Cleveland during the 1970s and ’80s. He and Cleveland owner Art Modell were at odds over his sudden retirement; the two later patched up their differences and remained good friends.

Brown supported Modell’s decision to move Cleveland’s franchise to Baltimore in 1995. It was both a reflection of his loyalty to Modell and another sign of his fierce independence.

Brown was one of the few former Browns players not angry with Modell for moving the team.

Many of the modern players couldn’t appreciate Brown or his impact on American sports.

“They have grown up in a different era,” former Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. “He’s one of the greatest players in NFL history and what he was able to accomplish in his time was tremendous. I don’t know that anybody could do what he did, the way he did it, under the circumstances that he had to operate and the things that he had to endure. And for him to go out on top, that’s something that not many guys are able to appreciate either.”

Brown later took up golf, and while playing with Jack Nicklaus in the 1963 Cleveland Pro-Am, he shot a 79.

Brown is survived by his second wife, Monique, and their child. He was divorced after 13 years of marriage from Sue Brown, with whom he had three children.

It frustrates Harris, 45, that reparations opponents won’t acknowledge that life for Black people did not improve with the abolition of chattel slavery in 1865. Black families have been unable to accumulate wealth through property ownership and higher education. Black boys and teenagers are still told to watch out for law enforcement, and Black businesses struggle to get loans, she said.

“I want them to stop acting like it’s so far removed, and it’s not currently happening,” said Harris of the lingering effects of slavery and discrimination. “I want them to understand that we’re still going through things now as a community. It’s not — it hasn’t been over for us.”

Black Californians have watched closely as the state’s reparations task force forged ahead in a two-year study, finally signing off this month on a hefty list of recommendations that will be submitted to lawmakers. It’s uncertain what lawmakers will do with the proposals, which include payments to descendants of enslaved people and a formal apology from the state.

The Associated Press interviewed a handful of Black advocates and residents who followed the task force’s work — as well as those who have long been engaged in the conversation about reparations. The activists who fought for civil rights in the 1960s and young entrepreneurs echoed a common fear: They hope California’s exploration of reparations does not become another example of the government offering false hope.

Reparations proposals for African Americans date back to 1865, when Union General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered that newly freed people be given up to 40 acres (16 hectares) of land. That didn’t happen. In recent decades, Democratic lawmakers in Congress have tried to pass legislation to study federal reparations to no avail.

In 2020, California became the first state to approve the creation of a reparations task force — in order to study the state’s role in perpetuating systemic racism and to find ways to atone. Although California entered the union as a “free” state, it did not enact laws guaranteeing African Americans’ freedom, according to a draft report from the task force.

The state faces a projected $31.5 billion budget shortfall, which reduces the possibility of legislative support for some of the task force’s more ambitious recommendations, including direct payments to eligible residents and the creation of a new state agency to help those families research their ancestors and to file claims.

The task force did not recommend specific payment amounts but estimates from economists say that the state is responsible for more than $500 billion due to decades of overpolicing, mass incarceration and redlining that kept Black families from buying homes in appreciating neighborhoods.

Damien Posey, 44, grew up in historically Black neighborhoods in San Francisco, where he heard gunshots at night and was bussed to schools in neighborhoods that weren’t so welcoming to Black children. He spent a decade in prison on a weapons charge and later started a nonprofit called Us 4 Us Bay Area to mentor youth and reduce gun violence.

Meaningful reparations would include an official state apology, public funding for nonprofit organizations that assist Black residents, and cash reparations for every eligible person for the pay denied to their ancestors, who built this country with their labor, he said.

“And our people deserve it, honestly,” he said.

Compensation is an important part of state reparations proposals because Black Americans have “been deprived of a lot of money,” due to discriminatory policies, said Les Robinson, 66, an associate pastor at the Sanctuary Foursquare Church in Santa Clarita, a city about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.

But money isn’t everything, Robinson said, and the task force’s other important work shouldn’t be lost in a fixation on dollar figures alone. He pointed to efforts to retell California history through a different lens — one that examines the state’s role in perpetuating systemic racism despite its label as a “free” state.

Robinson was “hit by a tsunami of emotions” when he learned in 2017 he was descended from a man who founded the first Black church in California and played a critical role in the state’s pioneering African American community.

He was disappointed that more people — himself included — were not taught the story of Daniel Blue, his great-great-great-grandfather who created what is now known as the historic Saint Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sacramento.

Robinson is skeptical that reparations will be approved by lawmakers, if history is an indicator.

“People wonder why African Americans at large are angry,” he said. “Because we’ve been lied to. We’ve been bamboozled. For centuries — not decades — centuries.”

Like Robinson, former Black Panther Party member Joan Tarika Lewis has been researching her lineage and was proud to discover several ancestors came to California in the mid-19th century and helped other Black people escape slavery.

Lewis, who became the party’s first female activist when she joined as a teenager, wants more Black residents to learn about their heritage and for all Californians to know more about the contributions of Black pioneers and civic leaders. Lewis, 73, also wants to raise more awareness about what the community has lost.

Her father operated a boxing gym in West Oakland that served as a community space for young people to learn from their elders. But then government officials took the land, and in its place built a freeway and commuter line. The family was paid a pittance for what would go on to become valuable San Francisco Bay Area property.

Lewis is optimistic that state lawmakers can make reparations happen if they have the political will.

So is Vincent Justin, a 75-year-old Richmond resident and retired bus driver who has fought for racial equity for decades. He marched in the 1960s with Martin Luther King Jr., Huey P. Newton, Stokely Carmichael and other major civil rights figures.

Though the fight has been long, he hopes reparations will one day be approved at the federal level.

“I think that we’re going to come to a fair and equitable ending,” he said.

Har reported from San Francisco. Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/ Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

This spring’s raging rivers are regifting them.

“There it is!” said Kevin Bell of Sacramento, swirling a pan in the cold waters of Moore Creek, as glitter suddenly illuminated the inky black sand. A half bucket of material yielded 12 showy specks — nearly a tenth of a gram of gold, worth about $7 — about double the typical haul in previous years.

Prospectors call it “flood gold” — fine-sized flakes carried by alluvial waters and then deposited as flow recedes.

This winter’s hard and heavy storms caused strong bursts of erosion, with rain pounding rocks near the lode sources and rinsing gold downstream. Fierce springtime flows are churning up river bottoms, causing gold to be dredged from deep pockets and dense clays, where the biggest nuggets may hide. Rivers are shifting gravel bars from one place to another. They’ve ripped out undergrowth, offering easier access. During the drought, nothing moved.

“What happened this winter was magnificent,” said Kevin Hoagland, director of the Gold Prospectors Association of America, which has over 50 claims on 6,000 acres for membership use only.

“It takes a very significant event to move gold,” he said. “But this wasn’t a singular event. It was a succession of significant events.”

The news is swelling the ranks of amateur prospectors, in step with the skyrocketing price of gold, which hit a near-record of more than $2,000 an ounce this week, up from $1,700 last November.

“People from all over the world are coming in. There are languages I can’t even understand,” said Albert Fausel of Placerville Hardware, founded in 1854 and the longest-running hardware store west of the Mississippi.

“They’re buying pans, crevice tools, ‘snuffer bottles,’ metal detectors, all the bare necessities,” he said. “I just sold a pair of gloves to a guy who wanted to keep his hands warm.”

Within persistent cool springtime conditions, many of California’s most storied rivers — such as the Yuba, American, Cosumnes, Tuolumne, Merced and Klamath — are still flowing too fast for safe panning.

So prospectors are exploring smaller creeks and scanning riverbanks with metal detectors.

“People don’t understand how powerful water is. They’ll put their foot in it and just get sucked in,” said Bell, 61, a skilled prospector with a slow stride and a voice as rough as 40-grit sandpaper. “You need to think safety all the time.”

Bell parked his truck at the end of a long dirt road, near an old stagecoach stop. Wearing hip waders, and carrying a shovel and bucket, he trudged through a forest of cedar, pines, oaks and blackberry tangles, then climbed down into Moore Creek.

As cold and clear as chilled gin, the creek originates in drainages outside Yosemite National Park and tumbles down into the North Fork of the Merced River. The region is underlain by quartz veins, rich in ore.

Gold mining began here in 1849 when James Savage, led by Native Americans of the area, discovered gold near the present-day towns of Big Oak Flat and Groveland, according to the Southern Tuolumne County Historical Society.

Thousands of miners converged on these pine-covered western foothills of the Sierra in search of wealth, helping create a state. By the 1870s, supplies of easily exploitable gold were largely exhausted. Improved technologies led to a second smaller commercial boom in the early 1900s, then a third in the 1950s. Then it ceased.

Now the area prospers largely from the tourist trade.

A retired manager for a municipal utility, Bell is motivated less by hopes of striking it rich than by being outdoors among friends.  To be sure, he’s done well: On a nearby claim in 2012, he discovered 2.5 grams of gold in a single pan, including a stunning 3/4-gram nugget. But he doesn’t sell the gold he finds; rather, he’s built a collection of memories, each vial representing an adventure in a cherished place.

Prospectors’ eyes are trained to look for opportunity: Eddies, abrupt shifts in direction caused by downed trees, and slack water “drop-out zones,” where gold, 19 times heavier than water, will fall as flow slows.

“It’s all about letting nature talk to you, and understanding the nuances,” said Hoagland.

“Just one tiny change — little pieces of sticks that have been pushed by water, that are all pointing the same direction — those are things that we are constantly looking for,” he said. “Because that tells us the flow pattern, and where there was energy at one particular time. You ask: Where did this water slow down? How are the gravels laid out?”

Bell focused on an eroded bank, blasted by water. Water levels had surged up into grass and fallen, then were deflected by a log.

“It’s a natural chokepoint for water,” he said, shoveling mud into his bucket and then into a blue pan. “Now gold has a place to hide.”

He bent down, filled the pan with water and swirled the muddy mix. He sorted out the larger pebbles and washed the lighter dirt over the rim.

He lowered his face to the pan. Yellow flecks glimmered in the sunlight. Arizona gold has a bronze hue; Alaskan gold trends silver. California gold is typically buttery yellow and flat, due to water pounding.

“See how the gold is shining in the light?” he marveled. “It has an aura that doesn’t change.”

“It’s about the quest,” he said. All winter, while he watched and waited, “I knew this area would be rich. And it was.”

A 29-year-old YouTuber will plead guilty to a federal charge after he destroyed the wreckage of a plane he purposefully crashed to gain views, Justice Department officials announced Thursday.

Trevor Daniel Jacob admitted to authorities he planned to crash his plane in a video he made to promote a wallet. He later collected the aircraft’s wreckage and got rid of it to hinder federal investigators from probing the crash site, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Jacob, a pilot and skydiver, agreed to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, the release said. CNN has reached out to Jacob’s attorney for comment.

The flight took place on November 24, 2021. Jacob departed from Lompoc City Airport, in Santa Barbara County, but he never intended to land the aircraft, he admitted in the plea agreement. Instead, he “planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and his airplane as it descended and crashed,” according to the release.

Jacob had put up several cameras in different parts of the plane and took with him a parachute, video camera and selfie stick, the release said.

“Approximately 35 minutes after taking off, while flying above the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria, Jacob ejected from the airplane and videoed himself parachuting to the ground,” it added.

After parachuting to the ground and recording the crash, he hiked to the wreck and took the video data of the crash with him, according to the release.

The YouTuber reported the crash to the National Transportation Safety Board two days later and agreed to share the site of the wreck. But he instead lied to authorities that he did not know where the crash site was and roughly two weeks later, flew to the site with a friend, loaded up the wreckage and later destroyed it, according to the release, which cites the plea agreement.

Roughly a month after the wreck, he uploaded a video on YouTube called “I Crashed My Airplane,” showing the crash and Jacob parachuting from the plane.

Some viewers were suspicious of the stunt, with a number of comments pointing out Jacob was already wearing a parachute, made no attempt to glide the aircraft to a safe landing area, and took his camera and selfie stick with him when abandoning the plane.

He also admitted to lying to federal investigators after submitting an aircraft accident incident report and falsely claimed the plane fully lost power roughly half an hour after takeoff, the news release said.

“Jacob also lied to (a Federal Aviation Administration) aviation safety inspector when he said the airplane’s engine had quit and, because he could not identify any safe landing options, he had parachuted out of the plane,” it added.

The FAA revoked Jacob’s pilot license last year, according to the release.

Jacob is expected to appear in court in the coming weeks.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

LAS VEGAS  — Ex-Las Vegas Raiders player Henry Ruggs pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving his sports car drunk at speeds up to 156 mph on a city street before causing a fiery crash that killed a woman and her dog.

“Guilty,” said the former first-round NFL draft pick, 24, who will avoid trial and is expected to be sentenced Aug. 9 to three to 10 years in state prison under terms of his plea deal with prosecutors. The minimum three-year sentence cannot be reduced by converting the year-and-a-half that he has spent on house arrest to time already served.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson cited possible legal obstacles to obtaining a conviction at trial, said he met several times with relatives of the woman who died, and said the plea agreement with Ruggs “accomplished our three most important goals.”

Ruggs was convicted of felony DUI causing death, will go to prison, and won’t be able to appeal his conviction and sentence, the elected district attorney, a Democrat, said in a lengthy written statement. “When someone dies as the result of a drunk driver’s actions, this is the most serious charge the law allows.”

Ruggs declined to comment as he and a group of about nine people left the courthouse following his brief court appearance. He remains free pending sentencing.

“Henry entered his plea today in hopes that it will further the process of healing the wounds caused by the accident,” his attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, said in written comments. They promised a “more complete” statement following sentencing.

The Raiders dropped Ruggs while he was still hospitalized following the predawn Nov. 2, 2021, crash that killed 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her pet dog, Max.

Tintor’s mother, brother, uncle and several other family members were in the courtroom Wednesday with their attorneys, Paul Albright and Farhan Naqvi.

In a statement issued after the hearing, the family thanked the district attorney’s office for its work and said they look forward to putting the case behind them.

“Today, like every day, we remember Tina and Max, and how they were taken from us that fateful night,” the statement said. “No sentence will ever bring Tina and Max back, but we hope that everyone learns from this preventable incident so that no other families suffer like we do.”

Tintor, 23, was a Serbian immigrant who graduated from a Las Vegas high school, worked at a Target store, wanted to become a computer programmer and was close to obtaining her U.S. citizenship, friends and family members said following her death.

“The family appreciates privacy during this time of mourning,” Naqvi said later in a written statement.

Ruggs’ girlfriend, Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, was with him in his 2020 Chevrolet Corvette and also was injured. Prosecutors said Ruggs suffered a leg injury, and Kilgo-Washington received an arm injury. Kilgo-Washington and Ruggs have a daughter together, and Kilgo-Washington was not cooperative with prosecutors as a victim in the case.

Last week, Ruggs waived a long-delayed preliminary hearing with his agreement to plead guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol, causing death, a felony, and a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge carrying a six-month jail sentence that will be folded in with his three-to-ten year prison term.

Wolfson said shortly after the crash that Ruggs would face a mandatory minimum of two years in prison if convicted and could get more than 50 years. The district attorney said investigators learned that Ruggs spent several hours drinking with friends at a sports entertainment site and golfing venue, and may have been at a friend’s home for several more hours before he and Kilgo-Washington headed home.

Since the crash, Ruggs’ lawyers lost several bids to challenge evidence, including that Ruggs had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16% — twice the legal limit in Nevada — after the rear-end wreck that ignited a fire that killed Tintor and her pet dog.

Wolfson said in his statement that Ruggs might have escaped conviction at trial because Ruggs was not administered a field sobriety test following the crash and his defense attorneys argued that that Ruggs’ blood-alcohol test was improperly obtained at the hospital.

“There was virtually no other evidence to prove Ruggs was under the influence,” Wolfson of the blood test.

“I recognize this outcome is not sufficient to punish Ruggs for the loss the Tintor family has suffered,” the district attorney conceded. “But there was a legitimate concern that a court would have suppressed the result of the blood draw. We would have lost the felony DUI charge. We couldn’t take that chance.”

Police reported that air bag computer records showed the Corvette slowed slightly from 156 mph (251 kph) to 127 mph (204 kph) seconds before slamming into Tintor’s Toyota Rav 4. The speed limit in the area was 45 mph (72 kph).

Other charges against Ruggs were dismissed under the plea agreement, including felony reckless driving, driving under the influence causing substantial injury to Kilgo-Washington, and a misdemeanor gun charge stemming from the discovery by police of a loaded handgun in his demolished Corvette. Ruggs agreed to forfeit the gun.

Ruggs posted $150,000 bail to be released from jail after leaving the hospital, and has remained on house arrest with strict conditions including electronic monitoring and alcohol checks. A judge’s order allowed him to attend a gym for three hours of physical training twice a week.

Ruggs’ full name is Henry James Ruggs III. He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and won an NCAA championship with the Crimson Tide before he was drafted by the Raiders in 2020. He signed a four-year rookie contract reported to be worth more than $16 million and had been emerging as a star NFL player before the crash. Records show he bought a $1.1 million home in April 2021, not far from the scene of the crash.

She keeps the shower tokens — 50 cents each — stacked next to the truck stop faucet, each one worth three more minutes of water.

The Garzas haven’t showered in their own home in over a decade.

For years, Garza hasn’t turned on the taps that spew only fetid, discolored water into her house. She has five-gallon jugs strewn about for everything from washing her hands to cooking and cleaning her clothes. She uses her two bathtubs as storage.

It’s a reality the family has faced for 11 years since nitrate levels in San Lucas’s only freshwater well spiked to dangerous levels. Her family is one of the dozens in the small Monterey County farming community that must live daily with the inconvenience, danger and fear of contaminated water — and she is one of the hundreds of thousands of people across the Salinas and Central Valleys who face water insecurity in a state that is the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Hundreds of plastic jugs of water arrive on trucks twice each week, delivered down the town’s dirt roads and paid for by the farming business the state blames for the contamination. The state water regulator — which quickly approved a long-term solution for the town, then scrapped the plan a year later — continues to wrangle with the community about a permanent fix, leaving the town’s residents caught in the middle of a slow-motion standoff over who will pay to restore the water supply.

“I have to leave my home to shower. I have to haul water up to my house,” Garza said. “It’s like living in a third-world country.”

‘The rug was just pulled out from under us’

In 2013, the state ordered the roughly 300 residents of San Lucas to stop drinking from their faucets, after nitrate levels spiked in the water supply.

The state found a local farm, Mission Ranches, responsible for the contamination citing the farm’s switch from vineyards to vegetables, which use more nitrate-rich fertilizer that then leached into the town’s only well. Nitrate consumption increases the risk of illnesses like “blue baby syndrome” — a potentially fatal condition in which nitrates replace blood oxygen and can cause suffocation  — and has been linked to cancer in adults as well.

Officials at the town’s water district — headquartered in a three-room house on the city’s main street — decided a pipeline to King City, eight miles away, was the best long-term solution to the city’s nitrate issue, while also addressing other contaminants that made tap water smell bad and turn yellow, brown or even black.

The State Water Resources Control Board approved planning for the project, which was estimated to cost $8 million. But the next year, the state backtracked and ordered the water district to stop all pipeline planning.

The plan was deemed too expensive for the small town, exceeding the “approved proportional share of $30,000/connection,” as the state put it in an August 2016 letter. With 324 people in fewer than 100 homes as of the 2020 census, the cost would be about three times that high.

“Right in the moment when you’re on the path of progress, and everyone is saying you’re doing a great job, we’ve got the grant dollars, we’ve moved the needle, the rug was just pulled out from under us,” Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez, who represents San Lucas, said in an interview.

“The punch in the gut doesn’t go away,” Lopez added. “It lingers.”

The long wait

Just a year before the San Lucas water crisis began, then-Governor Jerry Brown pledged to end water insecurity in the state, signing legislation making access to drinking water a “human right.”

But today more than 920,000 people across California remain at risk of health problems from local water systems that don’t meet quality standards, according to a 2022 state audit. More than two-thirds of those systems are in low-income communities, primarily in the San Joaquin and Salinas Valleys.

In interviews with this news organization, officials from the State Water Control Board and the Central Coast Water Board said the best long-term alternative for San Lucas “is still being evaluated.”

Plans to dig a new well in San Lucas, improve filtration systems and introduce new nitrate detection technology are currently underway and will be funded by the agriculture conglomerate that runs Mission Ranches. But the state says it’s up to the community to decide what solution it wants for the long term — and maintains that the company should pay for any permanent fix to eliminate nitrates in the water.

“The state can’t dictate the means of compliance nor can we go in and operate a water system,” said Drinking Water Division Chief Stefan Cajina in an interview. “For us to go in with our staff and help them on the water system solutions would in effect be dictating the means of compliance, and that’s overstepping our role.”

Still, the Water Control Board has had no trouble telling San Lucas what won’t work: A pipeline to King City, Cajina said, would be an “unprecedented,” “unorthodox” and “expensive” approach to dealing with nitrate contamination.

What’s played out in San Lucas is similar to what other low-income farming communities in California face, said UC Davis Professor Thomas Harter, whose research focuses on groundwater contamination in the state.

“If you’re on a community system, that community needs to have an organization that actually deals with water treatment and maintenance,” Harter said. “And for a lot of these rural, smaller unincorporated communities, it’s such a big challenge.”

‘Next thing you know we’re going to fade away’

As the state wrangles with local water officials and ranchers, dozens of families are stuck in the middle.

For Guadalupe Pio’s family, the weekly drinking water deliveries aren’t enough. Pio, who has grown not to trust San Lucas’ water system at all, bathes her nieces and nephews in jug water to prevent them from getting itchy, flaky, red skin from the tap. She gives the jug water to her pets too, and sometimes her plants.

Her son, Anthony Pio, 14, said he’s “never in my life” drunk out of the tap in San Lucas.

Pio has to choose wisely when she does her laundry. She said she “can’t bear to think” of how many clothes she’s thrown away after they came out stained and smelly from the washer.

“It’s about time that they did something about the water,” Pio said. “You can’t cook, you can’t clean, you can’t drink, you can’t use it. It feels like we’ve been forgotten, like they don’t care.”

For many in San Lucas, the idea of a water pipeline to King City is a distant memory. That project, which would have cost about $8 million when it was initially approved in 2015, would cost about $12 million today.

At San Lucas Union School, students have for years written their names on personal drinking cups.  When a new library was built in town three years ago, it was hooked up to the legacy water system — a sign reads “do not drink” above the bathroom tap.

Yet without water, the town’s future is also at risk.

In 2006, Chispa Housing — a nonprofit based in Salinas — proposed building 33 units of low-income housing, which would have been a boon for the local economy. But the plans fell through because of the contaminated groundwater.

Long gone are the restaurant, store, barber and train station that once connected San Lucas’ residents to each other and the rest of the world, leaving only empty lots and the memories of long-time locals.

“When we moved here there was pride in everything. This was a real town,” said 82-year-old Mary Carroll, who has lived in San Lucas since 1970. “We look around now and feel like next thing you know we’re going to fade away.”

‘This is suffering’

Sheri Braden, a water district board member, said the state has put too much of the blame for nitrate contamination on Mission Ranches, and John Romans, who runs the company’s local subsidiary.

“People really just want to turn on the faucet and be done,” Braden said. “This community is tied together. What happens to him happens to us too.”

In conjunction with a 2013 order to provide water for the town, the state ordered Mission Ranches to consider a new groundwater well and deal with the legal issues surrounding its construction.  But the farm warned in a 2015 letter to the state that the well could not be a long-term solution, as it too would likely spike in nitrate and other contaminants, given the long history of farming in the area.

“I already drilled the hole, I can put the well in … but it’s only a Band-Aid,” Romans said in an interview. “King City makes the most sense because they have more wells.”

“They’re all a part of the community —  the people that caused the water pollution and the people drinking the water,” Tyron said. “It’s a very tight community and it’s hard for them to say, ‘Hey, neighbor, you caused my well to be contaminated, and now you need to pay.’… But I do have to look at it objectively. That’s the regulatory approach when we deal with things like that. It’s not personal at all.”

Braden insists the best solution is for everyone — the state and the local community — to come together behind a pipeline to King City. She said if the state stopped trying to get the farm to “pay for everything,” the parties could find a solution that honors the state’s commitment to safe drinking water for all.

In the Garza’s bathrooms, Melva heaves a five-gallon jug into a dispenser propped on the counter inches away from the tap. She’s written prayers, hymns and bible quotes on the jugs to remind herself she must be thankful for what she has. But it’s still hard to watch those jugs empty slowly.

“This is suffering, what I’m going through,” she said. “I have a handicapped son to take care of who doesn’t understand why we can’t just turn the tap on. It makes me feel like I’m not taking good care of him because I can’t get fresh water.

“Even though I don’t have water, I like to stay thankful. Without that, I’d probably be crying every day.”

Those three words, spoken by City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez on Thursday, April 20, embodied former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who passed away Wednesday evening at the age of 91, a moderate Republican who brought the city together to focus on rebuilding amid some of its bleakest days.

Related: In their own words – quotes on former Mayor Richard Riordan

A venture capitalist before that moniker was coined, an adopted Angeleno who saved a beloved local eatery from the wrecking ball and a problem-solver who helped guide the city after the Rodney King riots and the Northridge earthquake. He surprised even longtime colleagues when, already past 60, he abandoned his private sector success in 1993 to run for mayor as an outsider. He served eight years before term limits forced him out, but he continued to dabble in politics and served 17 months as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s secretary of education.

Funeral services were still pending on Thursday.

Related: Faced with a devastating Northridge Earthquake, Riordan’s response was a ‘shining moment’

Riordan, a successful lawyer and businessman who came to politics late in life, spurned the job’s six-figure salary and accepted only $1 to run the city. He valued results and did not care for bureaucratic excuses for why certain things could not be achieved, Rodriguez said.

“His leadership style was ‘get things done,’” she recalled. “He allowed everybody the freedom to do what we needed to do to make the city work. He was interested in moving things along expeditiously and not making excuses.”

Riordan “passed peacefully this evening at his home in Brentwood, surrounded by his wife Elizabeth, family, friends and precious pet dogs,” his family announced Wednesday night. Riordan was 92.

Riordan, the only Republican to hold the nonpartisan position since 1961, when Norris Poulson lost a bid for a third term, was elected in 1993, succeeding Tom Bradley, who held the position for a record 20 years.

Riordan took office slightly more than a year after the rioting that followed the verdict in the state trial of the Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the beating of motorist Rodney King, then had another challenge to face in his first year in office — the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Rodriguez also said Riordan cared deeply about the city’s youth – and was often moved to reach into his own pockets to provide for them. Once, she recalled, he was invited to tour a school in downtown L.A. Upon seeing that the school’s computer lab lacked updated equipment, he immediately got on the phone, called the foundation he had started and demanded they send over new computers.

He spent $6 million of his own money on his first campaign. “He ran on a theme that he was ‘tough enough to turn L.A. around,’” said Rodriguez. “The truth was, it wasn’t tough. It was love, it was care … to give back to the people of the city.”

As mayor, Riordan gained a national reputation as an affable, accessible municipal leader who was dismissive of big government. He was sometimes faulted for poor relations with the City Council, where his scorn for bureaucracy was not well received.

Riordan himself loved to tell the story of how his administration had circumvented bureaucracy to help downtown business owners who had complained that “No Parking” signs were cutting sales. A mayoral aide went out and simply tore the signs down.

“Needless to say, I promoted him,” Riordan said. “And we came up with an axiom: that in government, it is much easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission.”

He was sometimes prone to verbal gaffes, but they seemed to endear him to many residents of a city often indifferent to the scrum of local politics.

Riordan turned back a challenge by state Sen. Tom Hayden, the former student radical and ex-husband of Jane Fonda, to win a second term in 1997.

Riordan was socially progressive but fiscally conservative. And he aimed to keep his adopted hometown whole, even amid efforts to split off the San Fernando Valley during his terms.

“One of his main legacies was fending off not only Valley secession but secession of Hollywood and San Pedro-Wilmington,” said Tom Hogen-Esch, chair of political science department at Cal State Northridge.

Current Mayor Karen Bass praised her predecessor: “Mayor Richard Riordan loved Los Angeles, and devoted so much of himself to bettering our city,” she said in a statement. “He always had a place in his heart for the children of L.A., and worked to improve how the city served our youth and communities as a passionate member of the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners.

“Mayor Riordan’s legacy includes our city’s iconic Central Library, which he saved and rebuilt, and which today carries his name.”

“Before Oprah had a book club,” added Rodriguez, who described the mayor as an avid reader with an extensive personal library, “Mayor Riordan had a book club.”

“I served alongside Mayor Riordan during my first two years on the Los Angeles City Council and am proud of the work we did together on behalf Los Angeles families,” said Sen. Alex Padilla. “Mayor Riordan cared deeply about the city’s children and prioritized the modernization of parks, libraries, and recreational and cultural opportunities for kids. He was instrumental in bringing the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles—now known as the Discovery Cube Los Angeles—to the San Fernando Valley. His legacy has left a lasting mark on our city, and his loss will be deeply felt by all Angelenos.”

Riordan owned multiple restaurants but had a soft spot for the Original Pantry, an old-school downtown diner that Riordan bought as an investment property and couldn’t bring himself to shutter.

Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian said Riordan loved the city and his contributions to the city were extraordinary and lasting.

“He drove the long-delayed completion of Disney Concert Hall, presided over the restoration of City Hall, and rebuilt a library system that had been ravaged by budget cuts and the catastrophic Central Library fire.”

Riordan was also instrumental in leading the drive for city charter reform that created the neighborhood council system, Krekorian said.

“The conflicts of that era resisted easy resolution, but Mayor Riordan always aimed for progress not perfection, and in the Riordan years the city saw very real progress,” Krekorian said.

Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles, recalled Riordan as a driving force behind the construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and a champion of Catholic education who helped found the Catholic Education Foundation in 1987. Today, more than 10,000 grants a year are made through that organization to families who could not otherwise afford tuition, according to the archdiocese.

“Dick Riordan was an Irish Catholic exuding the charm, creativity, and energy which led him ‘to raise our wings and soar,”‘ Mahony said. “He loved new ideas, he was passionate about moving beyond the past ways and methods, and he was bold in engaging in any new idea or plan which would help people across the city. … His legacies span an enormous spectrum of commitment to serving all people and their communities in every way possible.”

LAPD Chief Michel Moore wrote on Twitter, “LAPD joins all of Los Angeles in extending condolences to the family of Mayor Richard Riordan. Mayor Riordan loved Los Angeles & believed in the men & women of LAPD. His Public Safety Initiative rebuilt the Department with critical staffing & technology. May God welcome him home.”

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said Riordan was the right mayor for the right time for L.A.

“He led us through challenging times and championed charter reforms that made our city better. I am grateful I could celebrate his 92nd birthday with him last year and thank him for everything he did for our city,” Hahn posted on Twitter.

City Councilman Tim McOsker said he worked with Riordan while serving as a deputy city attorney, calling him “passionate, determined and tough.”

“He knew charter reform was necessary and I was honored to be among those who worked to pass needed reforms and create a more accountable and efficient city government, including creating a citywide network of neighborhood councils to encourage community participation,” McOsker said in a statement. “Even in disagreement over policy, Mayor Riordan and the city family had the same goal of making Los Angeles a better place.”

Riordan’s unconventional approach translated less well in state politics than it did in the City of Angels. He failed to win over the GOP faithful when he ran for governor in 2002, losing to conservative businessman Bill Simon in his party’s primary election.

“As a candidate for governor, he wasn’t a great candidate, but he was a great guy,” said Joel Fox, policy director for Riordan’s gubernatorial campaign. “He was all over the map a little bit as a candidate, would seek a lot of advice from people, ignored a lot of advice. But as an individual, he was a great guy. He was good to work with.”

After his loss, Riordan announced plans to start a daily newspaper, but nothing came of it.

He considered running as a candidate in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election until Schwarzenegger, his friend and fellow centrist Republican, got into the race.

Riordan was born May 1, 1930, and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. He was the youngest of eight children in an Irish Catholic family.  He attended an all-male Jesuit prep school where both neckties and Latin were mandatory.

He attended Santa Clara University, where he played on the football team. After two years at Santa Clara, he transferred to Princeton. Following his time at Princeton, he served in the Army in Korea and graduated first in his class at the University of Michigan Law School.

Riordan married Eugenia “Genie” Warady at a resort in New York and moved to Southern California. They had five children and he built a law practice, eventually founding Riordan & McKinzie.

He emerged as a political player in the 1980s, lending $300,000 to Tom Bradley’s campaign for governor and served on the city’s Coliseum and Recreation and Parks commissions. He also helped lead a successful campaign to oust state Supreme Court Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird in 1986.

Two of Riordan’s children died during his rise in political circles. Billy, his only son, died in a scuba diving accident off the East Coast days before his 22nd birthday. His daughter Carol died from complications of an eating disorder when she was 19.

Riordan was married four times. He was married to Genie Riordan for 23 years before the marriage was annulled by the Catholic church. He married Jill Noel in 1990, children’s activist Nancy Daly in 1998, and Elizabeth Gregory, then head of admissions at Harvard-Westlake School, in 2017.

Riordan is survived by his wife; three children, Mary Elizabeth Riordan, Kathleen Ann Riordan and Patricia Riordan Torrey; three grandchildren, Luca, Jessica and Elizabeth; and a sister, Mary Elizabeth Riordan Hearty.

• 

  Kyle Kirkwood exits the hairpin during IndyCar qualifying for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Kirkwood will start from the pole position for Sunday’s race. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Four time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  IndyCar driver Kyle Kirkwood, right, is congratulated by a race fan after capturing his first career pole for Sunday’s 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Romain Grosjean makes the turn onto Seaside Way from Pine Avenue during the second IndyCar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. Grosjean qualified third for Sunday’s race. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Scott Dixon races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Simon Pagenaud races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Alexander Rossi races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Pato O’Ward races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Helio Castroneves makes the turn onto Seaside Way from Pine Avenue during the second IndyCar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. Castroneves qualified 16th for Sunday’s race. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Kyle Kirkwood makes the turn onto Seaside Way from Pine Avenue during the second IndyCar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. Kirkwood qualified on the pole for Sunday’s race. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Pato O’Ward races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Romain Grosjean exits the hairpin during Indycar qualifying for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. Kyle Kirkwood will start from the pole position for Sunday’s race. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Scott Dixon races out of the hairpin onto Shoreline Drive during Indycar qualifying for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. Kyle Kirkwood will start from the pole position for Sunday’s race. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Pato O’Ward makes the turn onto Seaside Way from Pine Avenue during the second IndyCar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. He eventually qualified sixth for Sunday’s race. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Colton Herta races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Pato O’Ward races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Rinus Veekay, front, and Benjamin Pedersen, rear, race up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Romain Grosjean races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Romain Grosjean makes the turn onto Seaside Way from Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Josef Newgarden, left, and Pato O’Ward, right, race up Pine Avenue past the Long Beach Convention Center during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Scott McLaughlin races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Scott Dixon races up Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  Pato O’Ward makes the turn onto Seaside Way from Pine Avenue during the second Indycar practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday morning Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. Kyle Kirkwood in car #27 took the pole position for Sundays race. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. The 100Thieves Lexus won the GTD Pro IMSA race Saturday. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth catch a ride back to the paddock with the first place trophy.(Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. The 100Thieves Lexus won the GTD Pro IMSA race Saturday. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth celebrate.(Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. The 100Thieves Lexus won the GTD Pro IMSA race Saturday. Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth on the first place podium.Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. Marcus Ericsson during qualifying took second place. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. Penske Porsche car 6 won the IMSA GTP division.(Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. A late afternoon run of the Stadium Super Trucks had the crowd cheering. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. A late afternoon run of the Stadium Super Trucks had the crowd cheering. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. Kyle Kirkwood in car #27 took the pole position for Sundays race. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. A late afternoon run of the Stadium Super Trucks had the crowd cheering. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. A late afternoon run of the Stadium Super Trucks had the crowd cheering. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  The 48th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday April 15, 2023. A late afternoon run of the Stadium Super Trucks had the crowd cheering. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)

• 

  Racing action for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race during day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Podium finishers in the IMSA GT Daytona category: Paul Miller Racing, center, Heart of Racing Team, left, and Vasser Sullivan, right, celebrate after the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  The Corvette Racing GT Daytona car (3) during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  The Porsche Penske Motorsport Grand Touring Prototype car (6) during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  The Porsche Penske Motorsport Grand Touring Prototype car (6) during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  The Porsche Penske Motorsport Grand Touring Prototype car (7) during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  The Porsche Penske Motorsport Grand Touring Prototype car (6) during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Racing action for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race during day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  The Porsche Penske Motorsport Grand Touring Prototype car (6), left, during the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Madison Snow, left, and Bryan Sellers, right, drivers of the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 car wave to fans as they are driven to a press conference following their win in the IMSA GT Daytona category during of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Madison Snow, left, and Bryan Sellers, drivers of the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 car celebrate after winning the IMSA GT Daytona category during of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Madison Snow, left, and Bryan Sellers, drivers of the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 car celebrate after winning the IMSA GT Daytona category during of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Mathieu Jaminet, left, and Nick Tandy, drivers of the Porsche Penske Motorsport Grand Touring Prototype, celebrate after winning the IMSA GTP category during the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Jack Hawksworth, left, and Ben Barnicoat, drivers of the Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 car (14), celebrate after winning the IMSA GT Daytona Pro category during the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Podium finishers in the IMSA GT Daytona Pro category: Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, center, Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. GTD, left, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), right, celebrate following the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Colton Herta in the Andretti Autosport (26) NTT IndyCar during a practice session on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Bud Moeller in the Williams FW08 during the Historic F1 Challenge race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Zak Brown in the Williams FW07, left, and Doug Mockett in the Penske PC4 during the Historic F1 Challenge race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Chris Locke in the Lotus 77 during the Historic F1 Challenge race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Patrick Long in the 1983 Williams FW 08C during the Historic F1 Challenge race on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  David Malukas in the Dale Coyne Racing (18) NTT IndyCar speeds through the track during a practice session on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Pato O’Ward in the Arrow McLaren (5) NTT IndyCar during a practice session on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Fans watch as NTT IndyCars roar around the track in a practice session on day one of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  The Accelerating Performance Baby Bull Racing Porsche 992 car during the Porsche Carrera Cup Series qualifying session on day one of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Alexander Rossi in the Arrow Mclaren (7) NTT Indy Car speeds through a practice session on day one of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday, April 14, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

• 

  Callum Ilott’s Juncos Hollinger Racing (77) NTT IndyCar is carried away after crashing during a practice session on day two of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

Muslims around the world began their month-long observance of Ramadan at sundown on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. The holy month is done with prayer and fasting from dawn to dusk to honor Allah. Practitioners pray, fast, reflect and abstain from smoking and sex to bring them closer to God until the final night on April 22. The dates usually vary by a few days depending on the moon and a country’s location.

Peshawar, Pakistan

Srinagar, India

Manila, Philippines

Jakarta, Indonesia

Islamabad, Pakistan

Islamabad, Pakistan

Rafah, Palestine

Istanbul, Turkey

Mosul, Iraq

Solo City, Indonesia

Solo City, Indonesia

Kahramanmaras, Turkey

Solo City, Indonesia

Jerusalem

Damascus, Syria

Karachi, Pakistan