An engagement photo of Kris Edwards and his wife, Tilly, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in June.
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Chaseedaw Giles
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KFF Health News
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Topline:
American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in some cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston are among the major cities that now report more traffic fatalities than homicides. Despite local, state, and federal safety campaigns, such as the global Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities, such deaths are up 20% in the U.S. from a decade ago.
The effectiveness of Vision Zero: In January 2017, then-L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti joined 13 other L.A. city leaders in pledging to implement the Vision Zero action plan and eliminate traffic deaths in the city by 2025. Instead, deaths have increased. In 2024, the Los Angeles Police Department reported an estimated 268 homicides and 302 traffic deaths, the second consecutive year that the number of people killed in collisions exceeded the number of homicide victims, according to Crosstown LA, a nonprofit community news outlet.
Why deaths have increased: An audit released in April that was commissioned by the city’s administrative officer found that the level of enthusiasm for the program at City Hall has diminished and that it suffered because of “the pandemic, conflicts of personality, lack of total buy-in for implementation, disagreements over how the program should be administered, and scaling issues.” The report also cited competing interests among city departments and inconsistent investment in the city’s most dangerous traffic corridors.
Kris Edwards waited at home with friends for his wife, Erika “Tilly” Edwards, to go out to dinner, but she never made it back to the house they had purchased only four days earlier. Around 9 p.m. on June 29, a hit-and-run driver killed Tilly as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Hollywood.
“I’ve just got to figure out how to keep living. And the hard part with that is not knowing why,” Edwards said of his wife’s death.
Despite local, state, and federal safety campaigns, such as the global Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities, such deaths are up 20% in the U.S. from a decade ago, from 32,744 in 2014 to an estimated 39,345 in 2024, according to data from the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Although traffic deaths have declined since peaking at 43,230 in 2021, the number of deaths remains higher than a decade ago.
Since the covid-19 pandemic, the Pew Research Center found, Americans’ driving habits have worsened across multiple measures, from reckless driving to drunken driving, which road safety advocates call a public health failure. They say technology could dramatically reduce traffic deaths, but proposals often run up against industry resistance, and the Trump administration is focusing on driverless cars to both innovate and improve public safety.
“Every day, 20 people go out for a walk, and they don’t return home,” said Adam Snider, a spokesperson for the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state road safety offices.
American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in some cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston are among the major cities that now report more traffic fatalities than homicides. In 2024, the Los Angeles Police Department reported an estimated 268 homicides and 302 traffic deaths, the second consecutive year that the number of people killed in collisions exceeded the number of homicide victims, according to Crosstown LA, a nonprofit community news outlet.
Kris Edwards and his cat, Rex, in the garden of the home he bought with his wife, Erika “Tilly” Edwards, only four days before her death.
“Simply put, the United States is in the middle of a road safety emergency,” David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, testified during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing this summer. Out of 29 high-income countries, America ranks at the bottom in road safety, Harkey said. “This spike is not — I repeat, is not — a global trend. The U.S. is an outlier.”
In January 2017, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti joined 13 other L.A. city leaders in pledging to implement the Vision Zero action plan and eliminate traffic deaths in the city by 2025.
An audit released in April that was commissioned by the city’s administrative officer found that the level of enthusiasm for the program at City Hall has diminished and that it suffered because of “the pandemic, conflicts of personality, lack of total buy-in for implementation, disagreements over how the program should be administered, and scaling issues.” The report also cited competing interests among city departments and inconsistent investment in the city’s most dangerous traffic corridors.
Mayor Karen Bass’ office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A hit-and-run driver killed Tilly Edwards as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Los Angeles’ Hollywood neighborhood in June.
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Chaseedaw Giles
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KFF Health News
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Last year, California state Sen. Scott Wiener proposed a bill that would have required new cars sold in the state to include “intelligent speed assistance,” software that could prevent vehicles from exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph. But the bill was watered down following pushback from the auto industry and opposition from some legislators who called it government overreach. It was ultimately vetoed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said a state mandate would disrupt ongoing federal safety assessments.
Meanwhile, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an influential automotive lobby, this year sued the federal government over an automatic emergency braking rule adopted during the Biden administration. The lawsuit is pending in federal court while the Department of Transportation completes a review. Even before Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, the alliance appealed to the president-elect in a letter to support consumer choice.
Under Trump, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is prioritizing the development of autonomous vehicles by proposing sweeping regulatory changes to test and deploy driverless cars. “Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards were written for vehicles with human drivers and need to be updated for autonomous vehicles,” NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said in September in announcing the modernization effort, which includes repealing some safety rules. “Removing these requirements will reduce costs and enhance safety.”
Some Democratic lawmakers, however, have criticized the administration’s repeal of safety rules as misguided since new rules can be implemented without undoing existing safeguards. NHTSA officials did not respond to requests for comment about Democrats’ concerns.
Advocates worry that without continued adoption of road safety regulations for conventional vehicles, factors such as excessive speed and human error will continue to drive fatalities despite the push for driverless cars.
“We need to continue to have strong collaboration from the federal, state, local sectors, public sector, private sector, the everyday public,” Snider, of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said. “We need everyday drivers to get involved.”
Kris Edwards points to photos of his wife, Tilly. Traffic deaths across the U.S. are higher than they were a decade ago.
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Chaseedaw Giles
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KFF Health News
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It took nearly a month for police to track down the driver of a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen allegedly involved in Tilly’s death. Authorities have charged Davontay Robins with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, felony hit-and-run driving, and driving with a suspended license due to a previous DUI. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is out on bail.
Kris Edwards now tends to the couple’s backyard garden by himself. Since his wife’s death, he has experienced sleep deprivation, fatigue, and trouble eating, and he relies on a cane to walk. His doctors attribute his ailments to the brain’s response to grief.
“I’m not alone,” he said. “But I am lonely, in this big, empty house without my partner.”
Edwards hopes for justice for his wife, though he said he’s unsure if prosecutors will get a conviction. He wants her death to mean something: safer streets, slower driving, and for pedestrians to be cautious when getting in and out of cars parked on busy streets.
“I want my wife’s death to be a warning to others who get too comfortable and let their guard down even for a moment,” he said. “That moment is all it takes.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.
Actors Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper appear in an Uber Eats ad linking football to a humorous food sales conspiracy.
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Uber Eats
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Screenshot by NPR
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Topline:
A dive into the raft of ads airing in the Big Game that were released early, aimed at rocketing around social media to build buzz before their debut Sunday, revealed the typical mix of celebrities, nostalgia, special effects and bold humor we see every year.
What's new: New in the mix: A few efforts encouraging fans to build their own Super Bowl commercials, including an option from Uber Eats allowing users to make 1,000 versions of celebrity-filled ads and a contest sponsored by Artlist.io, an AI platform for video creation, offering $60,000 for the best subscriber-created spot.
Read on ... to take a look at some of this year's biggest ads.
If you're wondering whether it is truly worth the $8 million to $10 million cost per 30 seconds to air a commercial during the Super Bowl, just ask the creative minds behind the pro-Jesus advertising campaign "He Gets Us."
According to Come Near, the group managing the "He Gets Us" campaign, after airing commercials in three previous Super Bowls, they have seen nearly 10 billion video views, more than 70 million visitors to their website HeGetsUs.com and an awareness of the campaign so high that 40% of adults in the U.S. now know about He Gets Us.
And they expect that awareness to only expand with their fourth Super Bowl ad this Sunday titled "More," focused on the pressures many feel in modern society to pursue more of everything.
"There's not a lot of moments like this. … We're looking for moments where people really congregate," says Simon Armour, chief creative officer for Come Near, which has crafted the "More" ad as part of a campaign called "Loaded Words." "We're constantly asking, 'Are we really meeting people where they're at?'"
Offering a distinctly non-commercial message in the middle of the world's biggest advertising showcase is certainly one way to stand out. But that's only one of the many messages featured in an event that set a record last year — and the year before — as the most watched single telecast in U.S. history.
A dive into the raft of ads airing in the Big Game that were released early, aimed at rocketing around social media to build buzz before their debut Sunday, revealed the typical mix of celebrities, nostalgia, special effects and bold humor we see every year.
New in the mix: A few efforts encouraging fans to build their own Super Bowl commercials, including an option from Uber Eats allowing users to make 1,000 versions of celebrity-filled ads and a contest sponsored by Artlist.io, an AI platform for video creation, offering $60,000 for the best subscriber-created spot.
And, as we have seen in recent years, there's a decided lack of commercials offering any kind of sharp social message. At a time when America seems more divided than ever, most advertisers don't seem keen on spending millions to address the social or political issues of the day.
Of course, the most impressive messages may not surface until the Big Game itself. But here's a look at some of the most interesting commercials unveiled in advance, offering a look at the bold swings marketers are about to take on the biggest stage in media.
Best use of a self-deprecating celebrity, Part 1: Raisin Bran's 'Will Shat'
YouTube
One of the coolest things in modern pop culture has been to watch Star Trek icon William Shatner morph from an overacting, self-serious stick in the mud into a goofy celebrity who begrudgingly accepts that it's better to play along with his peculiar kind of fame rather than resist it. The 94-year-old comes full circle with this ad for Raisin Bran that deftly spoofs both the result of eating all that fiber, Shatner's roots in science fiction and the scatological word game people likely have played with his last name for eons, introducing him in the commercial as a character named Will Shat. My favorite moment: when he looks over at a pet and asks, "Is that dog a Shih Tzu?" As a bonus, the Shat-man even made news in real life, when paparazzi thought he was eating a bowl of cereal while driving (he was actually posing for a photo shoot.)
Most touching reference to Big Brother: Ring's 'Search Party: Be a Hero'
YouTube
Tell people that video doorbell company Ring can remotely link a bunch of cameras to look for something, and many may wonder if they've stumbled into a George Orwell novel. But show people how Ring cameras can be tasked to help find some of the 10 million dogs who go missing every year — using its new, free Search Party feature — and you have a teary, sentimental spot for the Big Game that pulls on the heartstrings while downplaying any concerns about Big Brother invading their privacy (fear not, Search Party is a program you have to opt into).
Best argument to Hollywood for using AI: Xfinity's 'Jurassic Park … Works'
YouTube
Cool as it is to suggest that one tech geek from Xfinity could have kept all the dinosaurs from escaping Jurassic Park, the telecommunication company went one better in this ad – basically showing the potential for de-aging and computerized imagery in film by creating new scenes for the 1993 movie featuring stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum. In Xfinity's new spot, they're jogging with herds of dinosaurs and posing for pictures with a T. rex instead of running for their lives. Of course, a happy ending invalidates the film's whole "egotistical man shouldn't meddle with natural ecosystems he doesn't understand" message. But it will probably sell an awful lot of Wi-Fi service.
Best use of a self-deprecating celebrity, Part 2: TurboTax's 'The Expert'
YouTube
Adrien's Brody's over the top antics while portraying a TurboTax expert – despite the company's insistence that the program helps keep taxes "drama free" — is a delicious send-up of his own self-serious reputation. (My fave moment is when he screeches "If there's no drama, then there's no Adrien Brody!") It's almost enough to make you forget the record-setting arrogance of his way-too-long best actor acceptance speech at last year's Oscars ceremony. Almost.
Best headfake around men's silly sensibilities: Novartis' 'Relax Your Tight End'
YouTube
What's the best way to let men know there's now a less, um, invasive way of checking for prostate cancer than the old school finger method? This commercial, featuring football heroes like former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians urges men to relax their tight end — complete with shots that seem to depict that relaxation — thanks to the invention of a blood test to check for early signs. It's all a bit of cheeky good fun — OK, I couldn't resist that one — aimed at getting men to get over their hangups and get tested regularly for a disease that has an impressive survival rate if caught early.
Best use of class warfare: Hims & Hers' 'Rich People Live Longer'
YouTube
Fresh off a controversy from last year, which found the telehealth company criticized for not being fully transparent about the side effects of its weight loss drugs, Hims & Hers is back with a spot that declares "the wealth gap is a health gap." Rapper and actor Common provides the voice-over for this spot, which shows wealthy people accessing all kinds of treatments and preventive care as the narration notes, "all that money doesn't just buy more stuff — it buys more time." Watching a big corporation spend millions pitching its products as an affordable way to bridge that gap, at a time when medical expenses are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the U.S., feels a little odd. But it's also a stroke of genius.
Best parody of a competitor: Pepsi's 'The Choice'
YouTube
This spot, starting with a computer-generated polar bear getting confused after picking Pepsi over Coca-Cola in a blindfolded taste test, works in all kinds of ways. It pokes at Coke's longtime use of computerized bears in its own Big Game ads back in the day while indulging a bit of nostalgia. Extra points for a moment later in the ad that references the infamous Coldplay kiss cam incident and a cool cameo from impish director Taika Waititi.
Most questionable joke: DoorDash's 'Beef 101'
YouTube
In the ad, 50 Cent presents the latest iteration of his beef with Sean "P Diddy/Puff Daddy" Combs as an epic exercise in tongue-in-cheek trolling. He reaches into a DoorDash pouch to pull out a bag of Cheesy Puffs, a pack of combs and a bottle of cognac he says is "aged four years … or 50 months. Who's keeping count?" But I bet Combs, now sitting in federal prison after his conviction on prostitution-related charges, surely is. And those who recall the allegations of sex crimes and abuse which surrounded the Combs trial, might not find a commercial seeking laughs by referencing that traumatic situation to be much fun at all.
Most shameless pandering to bro culture: Bud Light's 'Keg'
YouTube
Football legend Peyton Manning, comic Shane Gillis and musician Post Malone seem mostly wasted in a nonsensical ad featuring an entire wedding party tumbling down a steep hill in pursuit of a single keg that fell off a dolly. Gillis gets the punchline, turning to the camera to say, "I give it a week," presumably in reference to the wedding. I'm betting most viewers forget about this uninspired ad even quicker.
Best use of a conspiracy theory I might actually believe: Uber Eats: 'Hungry for the Truth'
YouTube
This spot continues the concept Uber Eats floated in last year's Super Bowl ad, featuring Matthew McConaughey insisting the NFL organized this whole professional football thing as a ruse to sell more food. This time, he's torturing poor fellow movie star hunk Bradley Cooper — who mostly looks like he just wants to be seen wearing gear featuring his beloved Philadelphia Eagles — pointing out all the NFL players named after food. But when he shows Cooper that the NFL Hall of Fame building looks just like a juicer — gotta say, I was nearly convinced.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published February 7, 2026 8:46 AM
Three people are dead and several others are injured after a woman crashed her car into a 99 Ranch Market in Westwood.
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Courtesy CBS L.A.
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Topline:
Authorities have released the identities of two of the three people killed in Thursday's car crash into a 99 Ranch supermarket in Westwood. One of the deceased is 42-year-old woman Deris Renoj. The other is Zih Dao, a 28-year-old man.
Two of the victims are employees at the Chinese super market, while the third is a customer. Authorities did not release additional details associated with the two names.
The backstory: The deadly crash happened around noon Thursday, when a sedan driven by a 92-year-old woman rammed into the grocery store on Westwood Boulevard after hitting a bicyclist and losing control of the car. Additional people were injured.
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In the first week of Black History Month, President Donald Trump posted a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on social media — a video clip showing the Obamas' faces on apes.
What the White House said: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip before it was deleted hours later, saying "please stop the fake outrage." Leavitt said it was from an "internet meme" that depicted Trump as king of the jungle while Democrats were shown as characters from The Lion King. Trump's clip did not include any of the longer video Leavitt referred to, which also includes other Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, depicted as animals.
Why it matters: The racist trope depicting Black people as apes or animals has historically been used to dehumanize Black people and to justify slavery. Criticism of Trump and his post came swiftly, including from some otherwise allied with Trump.
In the first week of Black History Month, President Donald Trump posted a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on social media — a video clip showing the Obamas' faces on apes. The post was later deleted, and the White House blamed a staffer for "erroneously" posting it. On Friday evening, Trump refused to apologize for the post: "I didn't make a mistake," he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
The post was one of dozens Trump shared in the middle of the night on his platform Truth Social and came at the end of a minute-long video promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip before it was deleted, saying, "Please stop the fake outrage."
Leavitt said it was from an "internet meme" that depicted Trump as king of the jungle while Democrats were shown as characters from The Lion King. Trump's clip did not include any of the longer video Leavitt referred to, which also includes other Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, depicted as animals.
The racist trope depicting Black people as apes or animals has historically been used to dehumanize Black people and to justify slavery.
Criticism of Trump and his post came swiftly, including from some otherwise allied with Trump.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican, said he was "praying it was fake."
"It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The president should remove it," said Scott, who is Black.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Friday evening that he had spoken to Scott, adding, "He's a great guy. He understood that 100 percent."
Asked if the post had hurt Republican support amongst Black voters Trump said no.
"We did criminal justice reform. I did the historically Black colleges and universities — I get them funded. Nobody has been — and that's why I got a tremendous, the highest vote with male Black voters that they've seen in many, many decades.
Trump went on to insist that he was the "least racist president you've had in a long time."
Trump has a history of making racist remarks toward Black people and other people of color.
For years, he pushed the false narrative that Obama was not born in the U.S., and he has previously used derogatory language to describe African countries.
He also falsely claimed former Vice President Kamala Harris "turned Black" during the presidential campaign. Harris identifies as Black and Indian American.
L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman has just announced she is running, reports the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, after L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said Friday she wouldn't run for the seat.
Why now: The deadline to file papers to run for L.A. mayor is noon Saturday.
The noon deadline to file papers to run for L.A. mayor is just hours away, and the field of challengers to Mayor Karen Bass is becoming clear.
L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman has entered the mayoral race. Stella Stahl, her communications director, told LAist.
The news comes as the field of high-profile candidates has thinned in recent days and weeks. Last night, L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced she will notrun for mayor, ending months of speculation.
Horvath said she was skipping the race to focus on her reelection bid.
" I am choosing not to run for mayor and instead to focus on my reelection for Los Angeles County supervisor, not because I'm stepping away from a challenge. I'm stepping even more into the one we've already started," Horvath said.
Days ago, former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner dropped out after the death of his daughter.
Developer Rick Caruso said last month he would not make another bid after running in 2022.
Other challengers to Bass include reality TV star Spencer Pratt and community organizer Rae Huang.
Voters will head to the polls June 2 for the primary.
