The Brief

WASHINGTON — Tears cascaded down Caleb Williams' face. The then-9 year old couldn't believe the mistake he made.

Williams was starting his first game at quarterback for the Bowie Bulldogs in Maryland. He'd previously played running back and linebacker in the three years leading up to this moment.

But after Mark McCain saw Williams throw a 40-yard pass on the dot ... as his team's third-string quarterback the season before, McCain, Russell Thomas and Carl Williams, Caleb's father, agreed to try the fourth grader at signal caller.

So here was Williams, in his first contest — a 7-v-7 game — and his first throw was an interception.

He attempted a 15-yard pass but made the wrong read. He disregarded what he saw the defense had set-up, and paid for it immediately.

"Since I was 4, when I lost, I cried," Williams told The Pivot Podcast. "One thing about me is my guys know I care ... and winning is the most important thing to me. ... There is a time and a place for it and understanding, even if it's raw emotion, and it comes out then and there, but being able to control it and hold it in until you get home."

His tears, the frustration with himself and that initial failure weren't for naught, though. In fact, those mistakes proved to be invaluable. This was the first pivotal moment in Williams' development at quarterback.

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams throws a pass during the second half of the team's college football game against UCLA on Nov. 18, 2023, in Los Angeles.

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The legend begins

The second happened three years later. He was then playing for Bowie Elite, a youth football program. McCain, his new coach, benched Williams during the team's playoff game after he went the wrong direction on a handoff, fumbled a snap and didn't throw to the right places.

It was after that game when Williams, the presumptive No. 1-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, flipped the switch and altered the trajectory of his career. It's also where Williams' legend actually begins.

"That really kind of started that; when he realized that it was deeper than just going out running routes and seeing who was open," McCain, who co-owns the Athletic Republic with Thomas and Carl Williams, told NPR. "It changed his vision of the game."

"There was a switch [between seventh and eighth grade] where that energy that he was taking – when he was upset with losing – the switch kind of made him, somehow [take] away the uncontrollable emotion. All of a sudden he didn't feel pressure anymore. He just kind of seized the moment."

Williams' path to the NFL Draft

The start of Williams' ascent doesn't begin with winning the starting job as a freshman at Gonzaga College High School in 2017.

Nor when he helped the Eagles erase a 20-point deficit and tossed a 53-yard Hail Mary to cap Gonzaga's improbable win in the 2018 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference final.

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans speaks to the media during the 2024 NFL Draft Combine on March 01, 2024 in Indianapolis.

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Or when he led the Oklahoma Sooners to an unfathomable 55-48 comeback victory over Texas Longhorns in 2021 as a true freshman and playing only half of the contest.

These moments occurred because those first two experiences taught him exactly what it would take to master the position, and Williams hasn't looked back since those initial growing pains.

"I worked with the Baltimore Ravens, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed," McCain said. "None of them have that competitive drive that [William's] has. ... It's unmatched. He simply does not compute losing. He doesn't accept failure at all.

"Going into high school, he would want to watch film of the game right after. He didn't wanna wait until Monday or Tuesday or talk. He wanted to immediately...see the things that he could have done better and figure out how to do them better. ... That's really how he developed his game. Doing something, seeing himself doing it and working on that thing until [he] couldn't do it wrong. ... And then he'd keep building on it."

These are a few of the reasons NFL experts anticipate that when the Chicago Bears put in the selection for the opening pick on Thursday, William's name is the one that'll be read off the card.

Gonzaga quarterback Caleb Williams (18) rolls out against Good Counsel linebacker Jalen Green (10) during a high school game.

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Williams, 22, has shown an uncanny ability to not only elevate his game, no matter the circumstances, but also the players around him, too.

The latter part frequently contributed to Elijah Brook's decision to award Williams the most valuable player honor all four years he participated in his camp. The former coach at powerhouse DeMatha Catholic High School met Williams in fifth grade as one of his campers.

Williams' desire to lead, always go first – even as one of the youngest players – and penchant to absorb criticism stood out to Brooks, who now coaches running backs for Virginia Tech.

In due time, Brooks expected Williams to be a problem.

One coach's loss, another's gain

"He was a leader," Brooks said. "He was physically dominant. He was popular amongst the campers. From a very early age, he just separated himself from the pack as special. I'm a firm believer that some kids just have the 'it' factor, and it was easy to see that he had that at a very early age.

"To this day, that was probably my biggest recruiting loss."

And it worked out to be Randy Trivers' massive gain.

When his high school coach was asked how Williams got on his radar, Trivers responded with a better question.

"It's not so much as how did he get on your radar, as how could he not be on anybody's radar really?" Trivers said.

By the time Trivers met Williams, he was an advanced quarterback prospect. Williams expressed a desire to attend a high school with a strong football program and academics, but also where he would develop as an overall person.

Trivers never promised Williams the starting gig if he came to Gonzaga, but the 10-year coach of the Eagles did promise Williams would receive a fair opportunity to compete for it.

Caleb Williams (C), then a sophomore at Gonzaga College High School, stands with sports performance coach Mark McCain (L) and quarterback trainer Russell Thomas (R) at Athletic Republic in District Heights, Maryland in 2018.

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And that was all Williams ever needed – a shot.

Once Williams was finally on the team, Trivers observed how the freshman quickly bought into Gonzaga's motto of "Men for Others," and won over his new teammates with his work ethic, charisma and selflessness.

"'Men for Others,' it's like living a Christ-like life [and] doing things that are not necessarily for you and yourself, but for others," Trivers said. "So, living your best life for you, your family, your friends, your teammates, your classmates, your community."

Williams endeared himself to his new teammates, Trivers and former teammate Trey Jamison said. He was the first on the field, and the last to leave. Williams studied furiously. When a teammate made a mistake, Williams didn't shy away from him on the next play. Oftentimes, he showed his faith in them by going back to the player.

His teammates then rewarded him by lobbying for him to start.

Jamison, a linebacker for the U.S. Naval Academy, still incorporates a lesson Williams taught him when they were 14 years old. When one makes a mistake, use positive self-talk. Williams eliminated negative outbursts and emotional responses following the benching.

Instead, Jamison said, Williams was frequently heard saying, "C'mon, Caleb," after a bad play or refocusing by dribbling the football like a basketball off the turf.

"He got good at that, and it made me want to do that, too," Jamison said. "It definitely helps out. It's something I use to this day, if it's something with school, mentally, or to get through [something.]"

Even when Gonzaga faced a third-and-33, and Williams had to play the final minute of the game with an injured foot, he didn't waver.

Gonzaga College Eagles quarterback Caleb Williams looks to pass during the WCAC football game between Gonzaga and St. John's College at Paint Branch High School on November 4, 2017.

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Instead, he responded with a 50-yard completion and then an 11-yard touchdown. With just 29 seconds left, Gonzaga had its first lead. But it didn't last. Their opponent, DeMatha, scored on the ensuing kickoff.

What happened next spoke volumes to McCain about Williams' response.

"Russell was sitting right beside me, I said, 'He's about to be legendary.' I could see how cool he was," McCain said after seeing William's composure.

Remember that pass Williams threw at age 9, that was intercepted? Fool Williams once, shame on him. This time, Williams completed a 13-yard throw to set up the ensuing Hail Mary with four ticks left.

"The only thing I said to my offensive coordinator was get me in range," Williams told The Pivot Podcast. "Once I was in range, I felt like the game was over. ... It was the craziest game ever."

The rest was history. Williams heaved the ball to the back of the end zone. In between four defenders, his receiver caught the toss. On his 16th birthday, Williams threw three touchdowns, rushed for two more and even caught a touchdown – to help the Eagles win their first WCAC title since 2002.

Jamison couldn't watch. Trivers was nearly brought to tears.

"Those [referee's] hands go up, and I collapsed on the field right there," Trivers recalled.

Brooks said his heart dropped.

"That was my last high school game, so thank you, Caleb," Brooks said with a laugh. "I appreciate you for that."

That experience in the WCAC championship was a building block for Williams three years later. When former Sooners coach Lincoln Riley inserted him into the game facing a 35-17 deficit, Williams didn't wilt, because he'd been through the fire before.

Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams visited his high school alma mater Gonzaga to attend a pep rally to honor the USC quarterback for his award. Williams, center strikes a Heisman pose along with members of the student body in the school's gym on May 19, 2023 in Washington, DC.

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'The Caleb era has just begun'

"When they put him in, I said, 'The Caleb era has just begun. He's never coming back out, ever,'" McCain said. "And he went on to win that game."

Going to a program like the Sooners, with not only an incumbent, but one that has preseason-Heisman hype, too, and saying, "I can do this," takes a certain confidence. And that's what makes Williams unique.

While others kept tabs of where players at their position were committing, Williams didn't, McCain said. It wasn't a factor in his decision making at all. Williams wanted to be coached by Riley. When Riley became coach at the University of Southern California, Williams knew he had to go with him. So he transferred and never looked back.

Now, Williams gets to look forward to hearing his name called Thursday at the NFL Draft in Detroit.

"I am never shocked at anything he does," Brooks said. "I'm on record, he goes and wins MVP of the league or leads Chicago to a Super Bowl or what have you, it is not going to surprise me at all.

"Some people just have it, and they were born with it. And listen, he works tirelessly on his craft, so when you can combine all of those factors, that's what you get. So whether it is him leading a comeback at Oklahoma or him winning the Heisman or him getting drafted No. 1 or winning his high school championship on the Hail Mary, I ain't surprised at all."

Inflation-scarred consumers are finding a bit of relief these days at an unlikely place: the gas pump.

The average price of gasoline dipped below $4 a gallon Tuesday for the first time in three months, according to AAA. The price of regular gas has fallen by 38 cents in the last month to a national average of $3.98.

The overall cost of living, however, remains stubbornly high. Consumer prices in October were up 0.4% from the previous month, according to a report Tuesday from the Labor Department. That's a bigger monthly increase than forecasters had expected.

Rising housing costs accounted for about a third of the monthly increase. Grocery prices were also up sharply during the month.

Why gas prices are falling

The drop in gasoline prices in recent weeks is thanks to a combination of falling crude oil prices, refineries' switch to a cheaper blend of winter fuel, and the typical seasonal drop in demand for gas.

"Temperatures are getting colder," says Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. "People who have boats and RVs are probably done for the year. I would say, by Thanksgiving, so long as we don't get any wild cards geopolitically, the national average could be $3.75 a gallon."

Gas prices are still at a record high for this time of year, however — about a dollar a gallon higher than when the U.S. went to war with Iran. Even with the recent drop in prices, this year's drive to grandma's for Thanksgiving could be the most expensive ever.

Diesel prices have also fallen, but more slowly than gas prices. AAA says the average price of diesel fuel is $6.15 a gallon, down about 13 cents from a month ago.

The high cost of diesel fuel is another byproduct of the war — not only the U.S. war with Iran but also Russia's war with Ukraine. Russia is ordinarily a big exporter of diesel fuel, but that supply has largely dried up because of damage to Russia's refineries.

"When a country like Russia isn't exporting diesel, that is very impactful for the global market. So diesel prices – they will come down but they will still remain very elevated," De Haan says.

Heating oil prices are also high

Rising diesel prices are also driving up the cost of heating oil in the northeast, because heating oil is a close cousin of diesel.

Mild fall weather has kept heating costs in check so far, but De Haan says a blast of cold air could push heating oil prices even higher.

Higher diesel prices also affect the cost of other goods that have to be moved by truck or train or cargo ship.

"You're starting to see higher freight costs get passed through," says economist Mike Reid of RBC Capital Markets. "We've seen it show up notably in goods that are heavily imported — apparel, recreation goods, IT equipment."

In a speech Tuesday before the inflation release, Federal Reserve Chris Waller suggested that energy shocks could have more lasting effects on inflation that previously though. Waller suggested the central bank may need to raise interest rates more aggressively to curb price hikes than markets had previously expected.

No annual comparison for inflation this time

While Tuesday's inflation report shows how much prices rose in the last month, it does not include the typical reading on how prices have changed over the last year. That's a casualty of last year's government shutdown, which idled hundreds of government price-checkers so prices from October 2025 were never recorded for comparison.

The Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank estimated before Tuesday's release that consumer prices in October were up 3.7% from a year ago. That would outstrip average wage gains of just 3.1% during the year, so the typical worker is losing buying power. That's a big reason for the heavy turnout in last week's mid-term elections. 49.1% of eligible voters took part in the election, the second highest total for any midterm in more than a century.

Copyright 2026 NPR

California will not become the first state to levy a wealth tax on its richest residents — at least not this election.

Voters rejected Proposition 40, a proposal to tax billionaires based on their net worth and financial holdings, by 52.8% to 47.2%, according to The Associated Press Monday. The measure had trailed behind for days before The Associated Press confirmed results.

Leaders for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the union pushing the measure, seemed to concede the race minutes before the polls closed but vowed to try again in 2028 if California’s Legislature “fails to deliver a real solution” to fund healthcare hammered by recent federal law.

“That’s not a hypothetical. That’s our plan,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW.

Election Day was projected to be an all-around defeat for the union, known for aggressively pursuing ballot measures. Voters defeated union-backed Proposition 44, an effort to control how clinics spend money. Proposition 42, a billionaire tax countermeasure prohibiting future wealth taxes, was leading Monday evening by 51.6% to 48.4%. That measure could get in the way of SEIU-UHW’s future plans to try taxing wealth again.

The billionaire tax would have generated $100 billion for healthcare and education through a one-time, 5% tax on billionaires, according to SEIU-UHW. Opponents of the measure celebrated its defeat.

“Proposition 40 was a reckless experiment conducted on our state’s economy with little regard for the harms it would cause,” according to a statement from Evan Westrop, a campaign strategist for No on Prop. 40.

The opposition campaign, which was backed by wealthy tech investors and healthcare organizations, argued the measure had already driven billionaires from the state and permanently harmed income tax revenue. On Monday they said the state still faces “enormous pressure” to find other ways to fund healthcare hit by federal cuts.

Billionaire tax divided Democrats

From the outset, Prop. 40 revealed divisions among the Democratic Party and galvanized some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest executives to spend hundreds of millions to defeat it.

Gov. Gavin Newsom became one of its earliest opponents, attempting through backroom negotiations to keep it off of the ballot altogether. He endorsed the billionaire-backed counter measure, Prop. 42, designed to ban all wealth taxes in California and kill Prop. 40. Newsom, along with Democratic allies such as Planned Parenthood of California and California Teachers Association, argued a one-time tax would not solve the state’s fiscal woes and would drive wealthy residents out of state.

The California Democratic Party and California Federation of Labor Unions supported the initiative and opposed its counter measures, arguing the state needed more revenue to shield workers and everyday Californians from the effects of dramatic federal healthcare cuts expected to kick 2 million residents off of health insurance.

Lorena Gonzalez, former Assemblymember and president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said Prop. 40’s failure puts even more pressure on state and federal lawmakers to backfill federal Medicaid cuts.

Supporters of Prop. 40 blamed its loss on billionaires vastly outspending the Yes campaign, which raised $33.5 million.

“That is incredibly corrosive and corrupting to our democracy and our political system, and that's been dominating the discussion here in California,” Regan said.

Billionaires poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the campaign to stop Prop. 40. Google co-founder Sergey Brin led the charge, publicly moving out of state and donating $102 million to Building a Better California, a political committee he founded to oppose the tax. The group has served as a passthrough for other billionaire donors to oppose Prop. 40, including by funding the counterpropositions 41 and 42. Collectively, ultra-wealthy opponents donated $378.4 million to oppose the billionaire tax.

In a statement, Abby Lunardini, a spokesperson for Building a Better California, said the billionaire tax threatened to limit revenue for all services in California, including healthcare, by driving economic interests out of the state.

“It was a lose-lose for California, and voters clearly agreed,” Lunardini said.

Ultimately, opponents’ efforts succeeded.

Polling just ahead of the election indicated falling support for Prop. 40 despite growing sentiment for taxing billionaires more in general. According to a UC Berkeley Citrin-POLITICO poll, 45% of voters believed in taxing billionaires more to fund public services compared to 35% who believed the state should prioritize keeping billionaires in state because of the tax revenue and jobs they generate — but just 46% favored Prop. 40.

Infighting among Democrats could have also contributed to Prop. 40’s demise, said John Matsusaka, an economist and direct democracy expert at USC, ahead of the election. Research shows money doesn’t buy people’s votes or values on core issues like abortion, Matsusaka said, but it can exploit uncertainty.

“People these days are very tribal. When your tribe is arguing, people start to listen to the counterarguments,” Matsusaka said.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

After an hourslong, late-night standoff between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and community members outside Adventist Health White Memorial over the weekend, local leaders are demanding answers from hospital leadership. 

The hospital has previously faced scrutiny over claims that its administrators have allowed federal immigration agents to interfere in patient care. 

On Saturday, state Sen. María Elena Durazo marched with community members from Mariachi Plaza to the hospital to hand-deliver a letter to White Memorial President Daniel Fontoura. The letter, signed by elected officials and community leaders, calls for an end to any collaboration that may exist between the hospital and federal immigration agents. 

The night before, ICE agents clashed with protesters near the hospital and blocked the hospital’s ambulance entrance. According to White Memorial, ambulances were diverted for about two hours during the incident. Two U.S. citizens were also detained by federal agents. 

Federal immigration agents were at White Memorial Friday night because someone in their custody had been taken to the emergency room, according to hospital officials and the Los Angeles Police Department. 

“What happened last night was unacceptable,” Durazo told Fontoura in the parking lot of White Memorial, steps away from where ICE agents had been standing shoulder to shoulder just hours earlier. “It’s unacceptable that ICE would go into our healthcare facilities. But we also believe that White Memorial can and should do more.”

Fontoura told the group that the hospital has “no special relationship, no special contract” with ICE. “When they show up, they show up,” Fontoura said, referring to the federal agents. 

Fontoura said hospital staff took care of the person who was brought in by ICE and claimed they denied the agents’ request to “break protocol” and be in the same room as the patient and their physician. “We said no,” Fontoura said. 

Boyle Heights Beat asked White Memorial whether these privacy protections are standard practice and whether federal agents follow them while at the hospital. The hospital did not respond before publication. 

Last year, Adventist Health released a six-point statement outlining its policies to protect detained patients and support staff, but doctors and advocates at the time said it was not enough. 

Now Durazo and others are calling for more accountability and stricter guidelines from the hospital on how they respond to ICE activity. 

The letter requests a written response from hospital leadership by Nov. 21. It is signed by Durazo, Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, Mayor-elect Nithya Raman, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and other community leaders from Proyecto Pastoral, CHIRLA and more.

White Memorial has not responded to Boyle Heights Beat’s request for comment on the letter.

If the concerns remain unresolved, those who signed the letter say they will ask the California attorney general to review White Memorial’s compliance with state law.

“For ICE to show up the way they did, it takes a much higher level of consciousness and determination by the hospital to stop them from doing this,” Durazo told Boyle Heights Beat after the rally on Saturday. “We don’t have absolute power over ICE, we know that, but we do have some power over ICE.” 

Nithya Raman turned the tide in the L.A. mayoral race by winning over large swathes of the city that voted for Karen Bass in 2022, according to an LAist analysis of election data.

Bass was a favorite in many areas that voted for Rick Caruso when she faced him in 2022. She held onto a majority of voters across South L.A., but lost much of her previous support. She outperformed Raman in areas where Spencer Pratt, the third-place primary finisher, saw strong turnout in June.

The switchup came after Bass — a veteran in progressive politics — took a relatively-conservative approach on issues like policing and high-density housing developments compared to Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.