The Brief

The alumni group at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has scrapped an official award celebration for Tom Hanks. The West Point Association of Graduates was scheduled to host a ceremony and parade honoring the 69-year-old actor and veterans advocate on Sept. 25.

A U.S. official who said he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed the news, which was first reported in The Washington Post. The official told NPR that Hanks will still get the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award, and did not state why the formalities had been abandoned.

The Post said the decision was announced in an internal email sent to faculty by Mark Bieger, president and CEO of the West Point Association of Graduates, a copy of which was obtained by the newspaper. In the email, the Post said that Bieger stated the Army needed to focus on its core mission of "preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win."

Hanks' long history of veteran advocacy

A statement from the alumni association announced the award in June, praising Hanks for his ongoing support of veterans, noting his role as a national spokesperson for the World War II memorial in Washington D.C., his help with fundraising efforts for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in D.C., and his work as a spokesperson for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, which supports military veterans and their caregivers. Hanks has also appeared in and produced many movies centered on U.S. military stories including the 1998 World War II drama Saving Private Ryan and 1994's Forrest Gump, in which Hanks' character serves in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

"Tom Hanks has done more for the positive portrayal of the American service member, more for the caring of the American veteran, their caregivers and their family, and more for the American space program and all branches of government than many other Americans," said West Point Association of Graduates board chairman Robert A. McDonald in the June statement.

"To have my first ever visit to the Academy be to accept such an honor as the Thayer Award is simply astounding," said Hanks in the same statement. "To be recognized by an institution whose graduates have shaped our country's history through selfless service is both humbling and meaningful."

Neither the West Point Association of Graduates nor West Point Military Academy responded to NPR's requests for comment. Representatives for Hanks also did not respond.

Readjustment under Trump

West Point has been going through a period of readjustment since the start of the Trump administration. In February, West Point eliminated student clubs for women and minority students following Trump's crackdown on diversity programs in federal institutions.

And in January, Sens. Katie Britt and Ted Cruz together with U.S. Rep. Keith Self — all Republicans —introduced bills in both the House and Senate to restore the words "Duty, Honor, Country" to West Point's official mission statement after they had been removed last year. (It was Army General Douglas MacArthur who uttered these words in a speech he gave in 1962 as a Thayer Award winner. "Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be," MacArthur said.)

"For centuries, the United States Army has set the global standard for military excellence because its leaders embrace a lifetime of selfless service and embody the values of 'Duty, Honor, Country,'" said Sen. Cruz in a statement about the bills. "West Point's removal of these core values from its mission statement risks eroding the foundation of American military leadership." (Both bills are currently still in the "introduced" phase.)

Meanwhile, Hanks has been public about his support for Democratic presidential candidates in the past. His name has appeared on lists of celebrities who endorsed former President Joe Biden during his 2020 campaign. After Biden's victory, Hanks hosted the Celebrating America televised special which was organized by the Biden Inaugural Committee. He got behind Barack Obama's campaign in 2008. Obama awarded Hanks the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country's highest civilian honors, in 2016. The actor has also been outspoken in his criticisms of President Donald Trump. In remarks at the Rome Film Festival in 2016, captured by the Associated Press, the actor called the then-Republican candidate a "self-involved gas bag."

Instituted in 1958, the Sylvanus Thayer Award is the most highly valued civilian accolade given by West Point. Its recipients include Henry Kissinger, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Bob Hope.

In an email to NPR, retired U.S. Army brigadier general and professor emeritus of history at West Point Ty Seidule said the history of the Thayer Award has until now remained pretty uncontroversial. The ceremony is rarely canceled or postponed. Unexpected snowfall upended the celebrations for author, editor and former ambassador Clare Boothe Luce in 1979, and the events of Sept. 11, 2001 caused them to be postponed for U.S. senator Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat.

"The award isn't a heavy lift," Seidule said. "It's a parade and a dinner. Cadets love to rub elbows with some of America's greatest citizens."

Seidule said that, over the years, the award recipients have come from both sides of the political aisle and from all walks of American life. "West Point is a staunchly apolitical institution," Seibule said. "I feel for everyone at West Point trying to navigate an administration whose decisions are capricious and cruel."

Seidule said he doesn't buy the idea that Hanks' ceremony was axed in order for West Point to focus on its military goals: "West Point is capable of focusing on the Secretary of Defense priorities and still having a parade and dinner."

Copyright 2025 NPR

Something unusual is happening with only a few days remaining before the U.S. men's national team opens its World Cup campaign against Paraguay: Tickets for the match are not sold out.

Although numbers fluctuate regularly, FIFA's ticketing website still shows 132 tickets left to sell for a game that's set to take place in Los Angeles on Friday. Meanwhile, resale platforms such as StubHub and SeatGeek — and FIFA's own marketplace — also show thousands of tickets on sale.

The number is even higher for Canada's opening match against Bosnia Herzegovina in Toronto on the same day, with 226 tickets left in FIFA's website and a high number of tickets available in resale markets.

That's unusual for high-profile events such as the opening matches of the World Cup — traditionally among the hardest to get tickets in the tournament. This year will feature three hosts in the U.S., Canada and Mexico — but so far only Mexico's opening match against South Africa on Thursday looks to be virtually sold out.

Ticketing experts widely agree on the reason: the prices. FIFA dramatically jacked them up for the tournament — especially for high profile games. The most expensive regular seats for the U.S. opener against Paraguay are priced at $2,735 — more than the final cost for the 2022 World Cup final — while the cheapest are $1,120.

Even President Trump said he wouldn't pay those prices.

"I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn't pay it either, to be honest with you," Trump told the New York Post in a recent interview.

The other two remaining games for the U.S. national have far fewer tickets available, given that prices are well below the ones for the opening match.

Prices have also fallen sharply

There are not only plenty of tickets left to sell — a number of them are also available below FIFA's face value. According to Ticketdata, which tracks prices across the resale platforms, the cheapest pair of tickets for the opening match for the U.S. and Canada was $951 as of Monday morning, while in FIFA's resale platform, tickets were available for as low as $690.

Other games across the 104-match tournament also still have many tickets left to sell — despite FIFA President Gianni Infantino's claim that every match is "already sold out." That's especially the case for lesser well known teams such as the Jordan against Algeria match, which still had hundreds of unsold seats in the FIFA's web site.

Demand for high-profile tickets such as Argentina and Portugal was far higher, however, with many of those games looking largely sold out.

Will the opening matches sell out?

Whether eventually the U.S. and Canada opening matches will sell out is hard to answer. Throughout the sales process, FIFA has closely guarded how many tickets it has actually sold and how many are left to sell, making it virtually impossible to gauge.

In addition, like other teams, FIFA could also sell tickets in other platforms including third-party ones such as SeatGeek, which can further obscure how many tickets are left to sell.

FIFA and organizers, however, are hoping for a surge in excitement that leads to a last-minute rush of sales for the opening matches as well as for those such as Jordan against Algeria that look far from being sold out.

Ben Shields, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, says perceptions so far of the tournament have been shaped by how expensive tickets and travel has been for a tournament taking place across an entire continent.

That, he says, "does not seem to sit well with many."

But that could change.

"The hope or bet — for FIFA is that once the matches start — and the greatest players in the world compete for the most prestigious prize of them all, the sport as business lens will fade into the background and the World Cup will be seen and experienced as the enduring global institution that it is," Shields says. "We shall see."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Orange County’s top elected leaders on Tuesday are set to discuss what to do with $3.7 million recovered from the Andrew Do corruption scheme.

Do is now serving a five-year sentence in federal prison after he admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding millions in tax dollars meant to feed needy seniors and people with disabilities in his district.

As part of the plea deal, Do acknowledged taking more than $800,000 in bribes through his two daughters, including a down payment on the house his youngest daughter Rhiannon Do later forfeited to resolve the criminal case. The scheme was first uncovered by LAist.

Federal officials recovered money from seized bank accounts and two properties connected to Do’s scheme — including the Tustin house his daughter bought.

The county Board of Supervisors is expected to publicly discuss plans for the recovered funds as they make decisions on the overall county budget at their meeting Tuesday. Public comment will also be taken.

What to do with the money?

Ahead of Tuesday’s discussion, Do’s successor said the funds should support residents of his former district who were deprived by Do and his alleged co-conspirators.

“For the past five years, every other district in Orange County has benefitted from the same community funds to support their cities, nonprofits, civic projects which strengthens their communities,” Supervisor Janet Nguyen wrote in a mass email to constituents last week. “However, our district went without because Do stole what belonged to our residents.”

“This money was stolen from the First District, and it must come back to the First District,” Nguyen added.

Nguyen was Do’s mentor and former boss more than a decade ago, before the two had a bitter falling out by 2016.

She encouraged residents of her district to send letters to the board and to speak during public comments.

Several county supervisors told LAist they supported a similar approach, one in which the recovered money goes to support the original intended recipients: seniors and people with disabilities in Do’s former district. Some supervisors have since advocated a broader view of how they’d want to use the money, noting that it was meant to address disruptions caused by the pandemic. Now that years have passed since the initial COVID-19 outbreak and lockdowns, some supervisors argue community needs have changed.

“We are so many years on, and the problems that money originally was to address (mostly Covid impacts) are now behind us, that I think we should have a discussion about how and where to spend it,” Supervisor Don Wagner told LAist via text message in March. “The budget is so tight and the needs so great across the county.”

Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said he’d work toward a fair distribution of the funds to best serve residents, with a focus on current needs.

“We will definitely consider what areas of the County were harmed by Do’s scheme, but we must also remember that the funds were intended for relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, a threat we are no longer facing,” he said in March. “We also need to consider addressing the current needs of residents with any dollars returned to the county.”

Millions more haven’t been recovered, at least yet

The amount of taxpayer money recovered so far is less than half of the $7.9 million Andrew Do admitted was diverted from specific meal contracts.

In a lawsuit seeking to recover funds, the county alleges the total amount lost in the scheme was even larger: $13.25 million. The county’s suit — scheduled for trial in November 2027 — covers all of the money Do gave to two nonprofits accused in the scheme, Viet America Society and Hand to Hand Relief Organization.

That leaves more than $4 million — and possibly much more — not yet recovered.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted they have an ongoing criminal case against Do’s alleged co-conspirator Peter Pham.

“Assuming we obtain a conviction in that matter, we would expect to seek restitution,” the spokesperson, Ciaran McEvoy, said.

Pham left the country on a flight to Taiwan in late 2024 and remains a fugitive, according to McEvoy. The case against him also includes charges against another alleged co-conspirator, Thanh Huong Nguyen, who led the Hand to Hand nonprofit.

Fans of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team swelled the stadium at the Great Park in Irvine on Monday to watch players practice for the first time since arriving at the training facility they’ll call home for the first round of the 2026 World Cup.

“Seeing them play right now… it was really cool to see how they play and how they practice,” said Mila Ran, who came with her mother from nearby Mission Viejo.

“This whole time she’s saying, 'I want to go shoot, I want to go play,'” said Mila’s mother, Farah Ran.

They were among about 6,000 people who won free entry to the practice in a lottery that received more than 30,000 entries, according to Irvine officials.

Fans got to the venue early.

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The team’s biggest stars — Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson and others — showed off their ball handling skills, honed over years of play on U.S. youth fields and overseas in professional leagues. Fans yelled, waved U.S. flags, held up homemade signs, and did the wave several times.

The U.S. Men's National Team at their only open-to-the-public practice session in Irvine.

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After the roughly 45-minute practice, some players walked to the sidelines to take selfies with fans and sign autographs.

The players know it’s going to take more than this, however, to live up to expectations during the World Cup.

US men's national team player Tim Ream signs an autograph for a fan.

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“To be in a position to train in front of these people today… is such a unique opportunity and one that none of us take for granted,” said backup goalie Matt Freese before the practice. “We’re working as hard as we can, as focused as we can to leave the next generation inspired."

The U.S. men’s team and their training staff will use the Great Park facility over the next several weeks as the team plays Paraguay on Friday, Australia on June 19, and Turkey on June 25 in group play at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Jury selection began Monday for the trial of the man accused of igniting a fire that led to the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures.

Jonathan Rinderknecht is charged with one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of setting timber afire. He could face up to 45 years in federal prison.

How we got here

Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht set brush alight near a popular hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains on New Year’s Day, starting the Lachman Fire. Firefighters initially thought they put out the fire, but it remained smouldering underground for several days. High winds then brought the embers to the surface, sparking the Palisades Fire, which burned more than 23,000 acres.

What prosecutors say

In a court filing in April, prosecutors allege Rinderknecht displayed “extreme anger, indignation, and frustration” because he had to spend New Year's Eve alone. After driving around for Uber, Rinderknecht hiked up a popular trail and set chaparral alight in a clearing, according to prosecutors.

“He then started calling 911 multiple times, hiked down the hill, and fled the area in his car before firefighters arrived. Defendant returned to the area after he saw fire trucks arriving and then took videos of the firefighting efforts,” prosecutors wrote.

The filing also states that Rinderknecht threatened to burn down his sister’s home.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Rinderknecht started the smaller blaze knowing it could turn into a bigger inferno.

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Hwang has previously expressed the government’s position could confuse jurors.

What the defense says

Defense attorney Steve Haney previously told reporters that prosecutors were trying to blame Rinderknecht for a fire that started days before the Palisades Fire.

"Well what about what happened between Jan. 1 and Jan. 7?" he asked. "Jonathan wasn't out there with a fire hose putting that fire out at the Lachman location, the Fire Department was. So why are they blaming him for whatever the Fire Department didn't do?"