The Port of San Diego has begun the public commentary phase for an extensive redevelopment initiative aimed at transforming East Harbor Island. The vision is to convert this bustling California harbor into a lively entertainment destination.

This phase follows the announcement of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Residents and stakeholders have the opportunity to provide their feedback on the project until August 24.

Upon receiving approval, the extensive project would overhaul the area opposite the airport and near the Harbor Police Headquarters. Currently serving as a location for surface parking, rental car operations, and temporary construction for the airport, this site is poised to become a premier coastal hotspot.

Part of the proposal includes a 10.1-acre public waterfront park that will feature a promenade, plazas, playgrounds, restrooms, and installations of public art, according to a report from NBC.

Next to this park, planners are proposing a sprawling 16.5-acre entertainment district to entice visitors and locals alike.

Topgolf is slated to anchor 9.8 acres in that section with its popular arcade and driving-range concept, while the remaining acreage will be reserved for future “eatertainment” venues selected through a competitive public bidding process.

To accommodate the influx of visitors, the proposal also calls for rearranging local infrastructure, including the realignment of Liberator Way, the addition of new public parking, sidewalks, and planting buffers, and the reconfiguration of nearby intersections.

Port officials emphasized that no final approvals have been made yet. Comments collected during this public window will be used to shape the Final EIR.

Both the environmental report and a Port Master Plan Amendment are expected to come before the Board of Port Commissioners for a vote in late 2026, alongside a proposed lease agreement option for the Topgolf facility.

The draft EIR is available for public review online.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace found herself at the center of a social media frenzy following her weekend post suggesting she might be interested in succeeding the late Senator Lindsey Graham.

Mace shared a scene from The Godfather III, featuring Al Pacino’s character, Michael Corleone, famously saying, ‘Just when I thought I was out … they pull me back in.’

Reactions from critics came swiftly, with many unleashing severe criticism on the South Carolina Republican.

Conservative columnist Bethany Mandel responded pointedly, stating, ‘[Graham’s] body isn’t even cold. Nobody is pulling you back in, ghoul.’

Democratic political strategist Matt Royer echoed a similar sentiment, questioning, ‘Who? Who is pulling you back in?’ highlighting Mace’s previous last-place finish in South Carolina’s recent gubernatorial primary.

‘It’s not gonna be you,’ Fox politics editor Will Ricciardella said. ‘This right here is every reason why.’

Conservative author and American Majority CEO Ned Ryun, son of former Kansas Congressman and Olympic runner Jim Ryun blasted Mace for appearing to ignore popular opinion.

‘Rational people might think, I just got DEAD LAST in a 5 way statewide primary a few weeks ago. Maybe the people of SC don’t want me to represent them. Maybe I should hang it up,’ Ryun noted.

A spokesperson for Mace defended the post by recalling Graham’s sense of humor, saying the Senator ‘loved a good line’ and adding that Mace’s post was made ‘with affection.’

‘Two men announced they were running to replace Lindsey Graham yesterday, within hours of his passing,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘Nancy Mace wasn’t one of them.’

‘Lindsey deserves to be mourned by the people who knew and loved him, not used as a prop by people looking for a headline. That’s where her focus is right now: honoring his legacy and keeping his family and friends in her prayers.’

Mace, who is finishing out her last term in Congress this year, appeared to be at a political dead end after her disastrous governor’s race.

She failed to win Donald Trump’s endorsement and lost her county and congressional district, taking just 11.6 percent of the vote in the June 9 Republican primary. 

In an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, she admitted that she would consider running for Graham’s seat, but said she was more concerned with respecting his legacy at the moment.

Trump teased that he had someone in mind to succeed Graham on NBC’s Meet the Press earlier on Sunday, but declined to provide a name out of respect for his former primary foe turned friend, ally, and golf buddy.

‘I have somebody that I think would be great. But I don’t want to say it now because, you know, it’s too soon with Lindsey,’ Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker. 

South Carolina Republican Governor Henry McMaster is likely to appoint a temporary replacement to serve out the rest of Graham’s term, which ends in January. 

To fill the seat permanently, the Republicans have a primary scheduled for August 11. That contest will advance to a runoff on August 25 if no single candidate wins a majority of votes.

Given the Palmetto State’s heavy Republican constituency, the winner of the primary is expected to hold the seat for the next six years.

Republican lawmakers in the state are now eyeing the coveted position – with Graham’s one-time opponent Mark Lynch already expressing his interest in running.

Mace’s fellow House GOP colleague Joe Wilson, 78, the most senior Republican in the South Carolina congressional delegation, was another name floated as Graham’s replacement, but he has opted himself out.

Wilson’s political campaign account posted on X on Sunday morning that he had spoken to President Trump, when he let him know that his ‘goal is to remain in the House to keep his two-vote majority for the American people!!!’

Wilson’s adopted son, Alan, is likely to be the state’s next governor after beating current Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette in the GOP runoff last month.

Evette herself could also be floated for the Senate posting, after garnering just over 30 percent of the vote in the runoff election for governor against Alan Wilson.

She was the top vote-getter in the state’s primary but was unable to coalesce support from the rest of her former primary field in the runoff.

A list of potential Graham successors floated by Politics1 also included Congressman Ralph Norman, who also ran in the GOP gubernatorial primary, as well as former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who previously served as the state’s governor.

Mace would bring significant baggage into the Senate race, aside from her poor performance in the June primary.

She became a major thorn in Trump’s side during her push to release the Epstein files in the US House of Representatives during the last year.

Mace has also been accused of being a difficult boss and of mistreating her own staff, and she was even filmed in a heated altercation with Charleston airport staff in her home state of South Carolina.

Graham, who had represented South Carolina since 2002, passed away in the early hours of Sunday after what his office called ‘a brief and sudden illness.’

A 911 call for ‘cardiac arrest’ was placed from Graham’s residence around 8.30pm, but no official cause of death has been confirmed.

Upon returning from a three-week vacation, a Nevada homeowner was met with a startling discovery: an apparent squatter had made themselves at home in his Lake Tahoe residence. The uninvited guest helped themselves to his food, wore his clothes, and left behind some telltale signs that have sparked an official investigation.

The homeowner promptly reported the unsettling situation to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office on June 5, seeking resolution after arriving home to find his sanctuary compromised.

The residence’s interior bore evidence of an unauthorized inhabitant, and further concerns arose when the homeowner realized his birth certificate was missing. This has added a layer of urgency to the ongoing investigation.

The investigation took an interesting turn when deputies discovered a wallet at the scene. Inside was a Visa debit card belonging to a person named Clarence Zillman and a Safeway receipt for two packs of Camel cigarettes. This evidence could prove pivotal in identifying the squatter.

Investigators later obtained surveillance video from the Safeway at the Round Hill Shopping Center showing the individual who made the purchase associated with the recovered receipt.

According to the sheriff’s office, the person captured in the surveillance image was wearing a shirt and hat the homeowner identified as his own. Deputies later recovered the shirt inside the residence, though the hat remains missing.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has released the surveillance image and is asking anyone who recognizes the individual or has information about the investigation to contact Investigator JT Davis at 775-586-7253. The investigation remains active.

News Media has reached out to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for additional information.

The case unfolded in the Lake Tahoe region, one of the nation’s premier vacation-home markets. The area is known for its luxury properties and attracts wealthy homeowners, celebrities and tech executives seeking privacy and year-round outdoor recreation.

The incident also highlights concerns about unauthorized occupants targeting homes that may be left vacant for weeks or months at a time. Experts warn some squatting incidents can involve more than simply occupying a vacant home.

Former Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Moses Castillo recently told News Media that some squatting cases have involved alleged identity theft, forged property documents and other criminal activity beyond unlawful occupancy.

“What we’re seeing now isn’t always someone just moving into an empty house,” Castillo said. “In some cases, there are forged documents, identity theft or organized fraud that complicate these investigations.”

Douglas County investigators have not alleged identity theft or document fraud in this case, though the homeowner reported that his birth certificate was missing. Authorities have not said whether they believe the document was taken for any particular purpose.

Concerns over squatting have prompted several states in recent years to pass laws aimed at speeding the removal of unauthorized occupants and clarifying the distinction between criminal trespass and civil landlord-tenant disputes.

MIAMI — In Florida, the last individual to face execution was 74 years old, marking the oldest age for an execution in the state during contemporary times. The next two executions planned involve even older inmates.

Set to take place by month’s end, this string of executions puts a spotlight on the aging population within the nation’s death row. Among those scheduled to be executed is an 80-year-old man convicted for the 1986 murder of his ex-girlfriend’s parents. Should this execution proceed, he would be only the second person over 80 to be executed in U.S. history.

This situation raises ethical debates, with some questioning the morality of executing prisoners who are near death due to natural causes. Conversely, others argue it highlights the balance between extensive appeals ensuring justice and constitutional rights, and the extended delays in delivering justice.

“Is there an intent here to deny these inmates the escape of natural death?” asked Rev. Dustin Feddon, a Catholic priest who’s worked with death row inmates in Florida since 2013. While emphasizing the church’s stance against capital punishment, he remarked, “Executing those who are elderly and fragile is particularly harsh and unusual.”

However, Marilyn Gifford, whose sister’s killer is scheduled to face execution on Tuesday, holds a different perspective.

“I’m just happy it’s ever happening in our lifetime,” she said. “I wish my mother was alive to see it.”

Death warrants follow decades on death row

On June 25, Dusty Ray Spencer, who was convicted of fatally stabbing his wife in 1992, became the oldest person executed in Florida in modern history. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the 74-year-old’s appeal that his liver disease rendered him susceptible to excruciating pain from lethal injection.

Dennis Sochor, convicted of killing 18-year-old Patricia Gifford just hours into 1982 after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party, would be just a week older if his execution is carried out on Tuesday. Marilyn Gifford said she and her family plan to be there.

Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, has spent nearly four decades on death row after being sentenced in the murders of his ex-girlfriend’s parents. He is scheduled to die July 28 and would become the second oldest prisoner known to be put to death in the U.S., after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. Moody was executed in Alabama in 2018 for killing a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney.

There are three inmates older than Occhicone on Florida’s death row.

The scheduling of executions is up to the governor

It’s unclear why Florida set the executions for the three prisoners consecutively. Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that in Florida, the governor has practically sole discretion when it comes to the scheduling of executions. In many other death penalty states, the scheduling is up to the courts.

About half of Florida’s 242 death row inmates have exhausted their appeals and could see their death warrant issued at any time. The family of Michael Sheridan spent a year calling and writing to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, requesting he sign a death warrant, before Sheridan’s killer was executed earlier this year.

DeSantis’ office did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment. He oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, more in a single year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The state has executed nine inmates so far this year.

DeSantis said last year his goal is to bring justice to victims’ families who have waited for decades.

“Some of these crimes were committed in the ’80s,” the governor said last year. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

Death row gets older

The average age of inmates executed in the U.S. has crept up from the 30s to the 50s over the past half-century, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. While some inmates committed capital offenses later in life, lengthy appeals and mandatory reviews have resulted in many spending decades on death row, sometimes developing medical conditions that can complicate efforts to execute them.

Occhicone has several age-related ailments, including kidney and prostate problems, according to his attorneys. He needs help getting in and out of the shower, they noted.

Under Supreme Court precedent, those who were under 18 when they committed their crimes cannot be put to death. But advanced age alone doesn’t provide a legal case for avoiding execution, said Gerod Hooper, an attorney with Florida’s Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, a state agency that provides post-conviction legal representation.

“You’d have to say it’s unconstitutional to execute this 80-year-old because he’s mentally deficient, he doesn’t have capacity to be executed,” Hooper said. “Or because of some underlying medical condition, the drug cocktail they inject would cause undue pain and suffering.”

Death row inmates with dementia in Utah and Alabama have avoided execution and later died of apparent natural causes. An inmate in Idaho received at least one stay of execution because of cancer and other health problems, but state officials continue to push for his death.

‘He could live another 20 years’

At the time of Gifford’s disappearance, Sochor was free on probation from a 1980 rape conviction.

“I knew him as a child, and he was a bully,” said Frank Frandel, who grew up as a family friend in Portland, Michigan. “I could believe he could be violent like that.”

Frandel offered no sympathy for Sochor’s advanced age, pointing out that Sochor’s father will turn 99 this year.

“He could live another 20 years,” Frandel said. “So no, I don’t feel sorry for him being at that age.”

For many new parents, the excitement of welcoming a child is swiftly overshadowed by the hefty financial burden of hospital bills that follow labor and delivery.

Take Allison Kuch, a 30-year-old influencer who is married to former NFL player Isaac Rochell. She was unprepared for the staggering $20,000 expense incurred for the birth of their child, leaving many to wonder about the high costs associated with childbirth.

Kuch’s experience, detailed in a viral video that’s racked up over 1.5 million views, has struck a chord with many mothers online. These women have used her story to highlight their own grievances about exorbitant hospital fees, with tales ranging from unexpected charges to one woman’s claim of a staggering $5 million bill.

In a TikTok video that has rapidly gained popularity, Kuch, a mother of two who introduced her latest addition in April, broke down her hospital bill. “I just got my hospital bill back from giving birth; let’s add everything up and see the grand total,” she stated to her growing audience.

Kuch shared a detailed account of her expenses, which ranged from a $3,200 private labor and delivery room boasting an ocean view to a similarly priced postpartum room she found “uncomfortable.” Additional costs included $1,100 for Pitocin, which intensified her contractions, $560 for epidural medication, and nearly $10,000 for a “vaginal delivery level 2.”

“What is the level 2?” a cheeky, triggered Kuch questioned before itemizing the additional dues she accrued during recovery, such as a $28-per-dosage fee for ibuprofen and a $6,185 demand from her obstetrician, who, she claims, was by her bedside a mere “three f- -king minutes.”

If time is money, then these baby docs are having the time of their lives rolling in the dough.

Unfortunately for families nationwide, a $20,000 delivery invoice is what to expect when you’re expecting. 

New mommies and daddies of New York, however, can expect to lay out nearly double that amount — especially if they bear their broods at New York-Presbyterian Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns at Weill Cornell Medical Center, where the price of procreating is roughly $36,000 but comes with a free bag of Chanel swag. 

But mothers similar to Kuch, who left their respective hospitals with an infant, in debt and no luxe label goodies to show for it, aren’t pleased with America’s exorbitant birthing fees. 

“My twins, c-section, and 20 days in the NICU… $390,000. Put them back in, idk what to tell you,” quipped a commenter. 

“They gave me a nursery bill for $2,000. SHE NEVER WENT TO THE NURSERY,” another barked. 

“My two rooms, two nights each, $17,000 [for] EACH ROOM….,” moaned an equally miffed mama. 

“The doctor did not make it in time for my birth, nurse did it all. Still charged me over $6,000 for the doctor that wasn’t there,” another added. 

“I delivered at a high-level NICU where my daughter stayed for 91 days….. 5 MILLION DOLLAR hospital bill. Yes, million!” exclaimed a gal who broke the mold — and the bank. “She’s at over $100 million dollars in bills.”

Luckily for Kuch, her insurance, covered by the NFL, managed to reduce her $20,000 bill by $7,000, and ultimately paid $13,421.26 of the damages, leaving her to cough up $1,500 out of pocket. 

Still, folks from other countries where universal healthcare is free shrieked at the expense we patriots are paying from coast-to-coast. 

“I’m so happy I gave birth in Canada! Didn’t even get a bill,” bragged a neighbor to the north of the US borders. 

“Aw, I paid zero dollars in the UK,” a Brit teased. 

“Never been happier to live in Australia with free healthcare for my three births,” gloated an Aussie.

“In Norway, you would pay nothing; this is so crazy,” a European chirped. 

“Yeah, America,” lamented a local. “Are we great yet?”

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lindsey Graham never crossed paths.

Lindsey Graham, the vibrant senator from South Carolina whose unexpected passing on Saturday night has sparked a flurry of conspiracy theories even among typically reserved political circles, disproves Fitzgerald’s well-known assertion: ‘There are no second acts in American lives.’

In the span of just the last quarter-century, Graham’s public life unfolded in at least four distinct stages, each marked by its own blend of approval, scrutiny, and critique.

As I spent my Sunday morning addressing the questions of worried politicians, business figures, and journalists, as well as a few curious relatives, regarding the peculiar circumstances of Graham’s death at 71, I found my thoughts drifting back to his remarkable life—a life I began documenting in the late 1990s.

Graham’s journey to becoming the future chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee was anything but typical; he emerged from a small-town South Carolina background, where his family ran a multifaceted establishment that included a restaurant, bar, pool hall, and liquor store.

His mother died when he was just 21; his father passed on a mere 15 months later. Graham became the legal guardian of his 13-year-old sister, Darline, and remained one of the central figures in her life. He was the first member of his family to attend college; he then became a lawyer and served for decades in the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and South Carolina Air National Guard.

Graham initially attracted sustained national notice in the House during Bill Clinton’s impeachment back in 1999, before succeeding Strom Thurmond in the Senate four years later – a generational transfer that, in South Carolina terms, was roughly like replacing the Washington Monument with Waffle House.

The first major Graham act was as the very junior partner in the so-called Three Amigos, alongside fellow Republican John McCain and Joe Lieberman, then a Democrat. During the first decade of the 21st century, the trio traveled the world, appearing in war zones and television studios to promote an interventionist, internationalist, hawkish view of American power.

Graham’s role was part policy advocate, part loyal lieutenant and part comic relief. 

McCain was the hero, Lieberman the conscience and Graham the man most likely to have a punch line ready before the motorcade reached the inevitable airport press conference.

Then, to the surprise and joking of even many who knew him well, Graham became a presidential candidate in the 2016 cycle. His campaign never threatened to catch fire, but it did produce one of the era’s great political feuds.

After Graham called Donald Trump a ‘jack***’ for attacking McCain’s war record in July 2015, Trump publicly read out Graham’s private mobile number. Graham responded with a comic video in which he destroyed his phone by cleaver, golf club, blender, fire and gravity. It was perhaps the most effective moment of his candidacy, although not traditionally the sort of thing that gets a man into the Oval Office.

Graham called Trump a ‘race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,’ told him to ‘go to hell’ and issued a prediction that would follow him forever: ‘If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…and we will deserve it.’

Graham ended his campaign in December 2015 and, when Election Day finally arrived the following November, he voted for independent conservative Evan McMullin.

Then, just like that, came Act Three.

After Trump took office, Graham began what was perhaps the most famous and notable phase of his career: ultimate Trump loyalist, frequent golf partner, adviser and advocate for the Maven of Mar-a-Lago, both on television and in the Senate.

The transformation was so total that Washington spent years debating its cause. Had Graham decided Trump was indispensable to conservative policy? Was he seeking influence over national security? Was he afraid of a primary challenge for his Senate seat? Did he simply enjoy being near the sun, looking for a father figure of sorts?

The answer was probably some combination of all four. 

Graham helped Trump move judicial nominees through the Senate, defended him during two impeachment trials and became one of his most indefatigable television surrogates. 

Even after the January 6 attack, when Graham declared, ‘Count me out. Enough is enough,’ he eventually counted himself back in.

Finally, through the end of his life, Graham was the ultimate neocon warrior, pressing Trump and Congress to remain supportive of Ukraine against Russia and of Israel against its enemies. Graham was particularly hawkish when it came to Iran, strongly advocating for American intervention and, ultimately, regime change in Tehran.

In both Ukraine and the Middle East, Graham went against the energy, passion and anger of a substantial part of the MAGA base, and sometimes against Trump himself.

Just before his death, Graham had returned from another visit to Ukraine and announced progress on a sanctions package aimed at Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, NATO leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were among those who immediately praised him as an unusually steadfast friend.

Woven through every Graham phase were themes and memes as persistent as they were contradictory.

Nearly everyone who knew him personally thought he was a nice guy, while much of the left viewed him as a Trump lapdog owing to that often confounding loyalty to the president.

Graham was viewed by some as wickedly smart and by others as unsophisticated and dopey. His personal life (he never married) was usually kept private despite the speculation about his sexuality, which was deployed publicly and crudely by his critics, and marveled at by some of his admirers, including the president himself.

Graham played a major role in both American politics and culture for a quarter-century, but he never quite became the larger-than-life figure represented by his two friends (who were enemies with each other) John McCain and Donald Trump.

Still, it is no surprise that his death brought immediate accolades from American and world leaders. From humble origins, the genial Graham made himself a force on the international stage, both displaying and surviving ideological pirouettes that would have toppled a lesser politician. 

Through it all, he remained unmistakably Lindsey.

With the FBI now investigating Graham’s death, conspiracy theorists are likely to continue their field day long after a definitive cause of death is announced. 

Meanwhile, Graham’s admirers and detractors will conduct their final arguments, while his funeral is sure to contain tears, laughter, political incongruities and at least one story that cannot safely be repeated in polite company.

It will be a hoot, like the man himself.

RIP, Lindsey Graham.

Mark Halperin is the editor-in-chief and host of the interactive live video platform 2WAY and the host of the video podcast ‘Next Up’ on the Megyn Kelly Network.