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Every community has individuals and organizations whose quiet dedication makes life better for everyone around them. On Friday, August 21, the Community Health Trust of Pajaro Valley (CHT) will celebrate those efforts during its annual Rather Awards, honoring local leaders whose work has strengthened health, education, and quality of life throughout the Pajaro Valley.

Held each year in memory of Phil Rather, a longtime advocate for equitable access to healthcare, the Rather Awards recognize people and organizations whose commitment to service has created lasting impacts across the community. Since the awards were established in 1999, they have become a meaningful opportunity to celebrate the partnerships and leadership that help make the Pajaro Valley healthier, stronger, and more connected.

This year’s honorees represent a wide range of organizations working to improve lives every day.

Among those being recognized is Amy Smet, MPH, Career Technical Education Teacher of Patient Care and co-founder of the Health Careers Academy at Watsonville High School, whose work is helping inspire and prepare the next generation of compassionate healthcare professionals.

Farm Discovery at Live Earth will be honored for connecting more than 4,000 youth and families each year with hands-on education in regenerative agriculture, nutrition, environmental stewardship, and access to fresh organic produce.

The Community Health Trust will also recognize June Ponce, Executive Director of the Watsonville Community Hospital Foundation, whose leadership helped guide the successful $67 million community campaign to preserve Watsonville Community Hospital as a locally owned nonprofit.

Rounding out this year’s award recipients is Salud Para La Gente, whose comprehensive medical, dental, behavioral health, and wellness services provide care for more than 27,000 patients throughout Santa Cruz and North Monterey counties.

In addition to the primary award recipients, special recognition will be presented to Bibiana Rocha, Dr. Cristina Gamboa, Dennis Osmer, Neera Bhatnagar, LCSW, and Yesenia Alvarez for their outstanding contributions to the health and well-being of the community.

“From delivering essential health services to championing education for our youth, these remarkable individuals and organizations make a lasting difference in the Pajaro Valley by expanding access to care and opportunities,” said DeAndre James, Executive Director of the Community Health Trust. “We are grateful for their dedication and invite the community to join us in celebrating their leadership.”

Beyond celebrating this year’s honorees, the Rather Awards also help support the future of community health. Proceeds from the evening benefit the Phil Rather Memorial Endowment Fund, which provides ongoing support for Community Health Trust programs serving individuals and families living with diabetes, prediabetes, and other chronic health conditions.

The 2026 Rather Awards will be held Friday, August 21, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Civic Plaza Community Room, 275 Main Street in Watsonville. Community members are invited to attend and help celebrate the individuals and organizations working every day to improve the health and well-being of the Pajaro Valley.

Tickets are available now, and additional information can be found by contacting the Community Health Trust. The organization also extends its sincere thanks to this year’s event sponsors, Lookout Santa Cruz and Bay Federal Credit Union, for their generous support.

For ticket information, sponsorship inquiries, or additional event details, visit https://pvhealthtrust.org/rather-awards/ or email Development@pvhealthtrust.org.

General info: https://pvhealthtrust.org/rather-awards/

GET YOUR TICKETS!

The post Community Health Trust to celebrate local changemakers at the 2026 Rather Awards appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

The Cosmos EV is now slated for release in the second half of 2027. CEO Silivo Napoli said he's focused on getting the EV right as well as its nearer-term robotaxi project with Uber and Nuro.

Nvidia commands about 85 percent of the datacenter GPU market today, and if Elon Musk has his way, the AI infrastructure giant will have a virtual monopoly over the stars. On Tuesday, Musk wrote on the social media network he owns that “SpaceX has committed to using Nvidia GPUs exclusively because they are the best.” The collab should surprise absolutely no one. It’s not like AMD or anyone else out there is making hardened versions of their GPUs for orbital datacenters. Why, you might ask? Well, to quote one Gartner analyst, the idea that space-based datacenters will ever be economically viable is “peak insanity.” Nvidia just happens to have $13.2 billion in cash to burn on pipe dreams like these. Specifically, SpaceX says that it will be deploying Nvidia’s Space-1, a specialized version of its upcoming Vera Rubin compute platform designed to operate high above the Earth’s atmosphere where no one can hear you scream because the LLM is hallucinating again. In a separate X post Tuesday, SpaceX announced it was “partnering with Nvidia to design the Starmind AI1 satellite compute payload,” and that “Each of the Starmind satellites will include Nvidia Rubin GPUs and Vera CPUs for datacenter class space compute.” According to SpaceX’s website, when fully deployed, the Starmind AI1 will measure 30 meters tall, have a wingspan of 75 meters from solar array to solar array, and support a compute payload of 250 kW. That might sound like a lot of power, but to put that in perspective, that’s only enough power for roughly a single Vera Rubin NVL72 rack. So, if you thought Nvidia’s rack systems were expensive, just wait till you have to loft them into orbit. Speaking of orbit, before any of this can happen, SpaceX needs to get its super heavy rocket, Starship, into orbit, which still hasn’t happened. An even bigger challenge is making it cost-effective to lob the 3.33 ton satellites into orbit. It currently costs about $7,000 to put a kilogram into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. That puts the current price of launching the AI1 at north of $23 million, assuming you manage to pack the thing into a Falcon 9 in the first place. For orbital datacenters to be cost-effective, Starship is going to need to get the cost per kilogram down to Elon’s stated goal of $10, Ortibal CEO told El Reg earlier this year. That would bring the cost to orbit to about $33,300, assuming the target is anything more than aspirational. Now is probably about the time we remind folks that Elon doesn’t exactly have the greatest track record of following through on his “commitments.” Remember how SpaceX was going to put humans on Mars by 2022 or how Tesla would field a million robo-taxis by 2020? But even if they don't go to space, Musk still might get something valuable out of Starmind AI1’s development. In yet another X post, Elon opined that the satellite's architecture was so efficient that SpaceX properties would be deploying them, sans solar and thermal management systems, in their terrestrial datacenters. “It’s a major improvement in data center efficiency,” he wrote. The notes came on the heels of SpaceX's first earnings report as a public company, during which it said that capital expenditures grew by a factor of 6x versus a year ago to $18.4 billion as the company goes into overdrive building out xAI, the company's artificial intelligence offering. The company posted a quarterly net loss of $541 million on revenues of $7.81 billion. The stock was down more than 10% in mid-day trading on Wednesday, and is down 17% from its listing price of $135 in June. ®

Pajaro Valley High on Monday announced that Juan Roman was named the new head coach of the girls’ soccer team. 

If the name sounds familiar, that’s because he was the former head coach of the boys’ soccer team until 2020. Yet, he had remained as an assistant coach even after he stepped down. 

“I love the school,” Roman said. “I want to do everything for the school.”

Roman, 59, replaces former head coach Kristian Flores, who helped guide the Grizzlies into the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division — the highest tier of the four divisions within the league.

“I felt like Kristian did a tremendous job,” Roman said.

But, the newly appointed skipper believes the program needs consistency. He said before Flores, the girls had gone through a carousel of coaches. Roman hopes to stop that trend.

“We have a lot of coaching for the boys, so I said why not?” Roman said.

PV athletic director Joe Manfre is excited for Roman to take over the girls’ program after spending a decade with the boys’ team. 

“[Roman’s] been coaching for a long time,” Manfre said. “Has a lot of knowledge about the game of soccer. I know that he really loves this school.”

Manfre said the ideal candidate for a head coach is someone who wants to be at the school and build a home on campus.

“I feel like he’s done that, and it’s been awesome working with him every step of the way as a head coach and as an assistant coach,” Manfre said.

Roman delved into girls soccer when he became head coach for Rolling Hills Middle School’s program two years ago. He’s hoping to meet some of those same players at the high school level. 

Roman noticed participation for girls soccer has been extremely low for the Grizzlies, who competed in the Gabilan Division during the 2025-26 campaign.

He remembers at one point there would be just nine players at training sessions.

“For a program that’s in the Gabilan, and only having that minimum amount of players for practice, it was kind of hard to maintain a great level,” Roman said. 

Roman’s mission is to motivate some girls to at least show up, and give him a chance to show they can be competitive at whatever level they’re placed in. 

“Have a big program,” he said.

On top of everything else, Roman said he wants the players to maintain a positive attitude no matter the outcome. 

“Wins and losses will come and go,” he said. “But the attitude has to be there the whole time. My job is to make sure that the girls stay motivated, the girls want to come out and give their best. It starts with the coach encouraging that, and the coach giving his 100 percent, too.”

Abdul El-Sayed’s win in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary is already drawing bigoted attacks from the right.

President Trump called El-Sayed a “Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel” Wednesday morning, saying that his victory was “Great News for the Republican Party” in a post on Truth Social. Vice President JD Vance followed Trump’s lead and attacked El-Sayed in passing in a press conference.

“We don’t want the next administration, whoever, you know, God forbid you’re going to have President El-Sayed in three years. We don’t want him to undo all the incredible work that we’ve been doing when we’ve been taking out the fraudsters and saving the American people money,” Vance said.

El-Sayed’s Republican opponent this November, Representative Mike Rogers, released a statement alluding to El-Sayed’s Muslim faith.

“I spent years hunting terrorists and bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11,” Rogers said in his statement.

AIPAC, which spent nearly $32 million supporting El-Sayed’s primary opponent, Representative Haley Stevens, signaled Wednesday that it would support Rogers in November, saying in a statement that “Our members remain determined to ensure that voters reject Dr. El-Sayed and his radical anti-Israel agenda in November.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee Wednesday morning called El-Sayed “the Most Radical Candidate in America,” and referred to him by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, a departure from their previous press releases.

“El-Sayed is the most radical Democrat Senate nominee ever. His support of terrorist organizations, socialist policies, and the defunding of law enforcement makes him dangerous and ultimately disqualified from serving,” NRSC Chair and Senator Tim Scott said in the press release. “Michigan has had two Democrat Senators for decades, so we cannot take anything for granted, but we will do everything we can to make sure El-Sayed never steps foot in the U.S. Senate.”

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso piled on, calling El-Sayed dangerous, scary, and an extremist on the Senate floor Wednesday.

The NRSC has already released an attack ad against El-Sayed full of dog whistles, alleging that he supports the Muslim Brotherhood and believes America deserved 9/11.

The NRSC debuts first attack ad in the US Senate Michigan race against Abdul El-Sayed pic.twitter.com/d3N3RB3CGT

— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) August 5, 2026

At a press conference on Wednesday, El-Sayed brushed off the blatantly Islamophobic attacks, saying, “That’s the only play they got.

“They’re gonna point at me, they’re gonna point at my name, like, ‘Wow, he’s different.’ That’s the best you got? You can’t actually talk about what you want to do? My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is not taking us to war. My name is not the reason you can’t afford your groceries,” El-Sayed said. “So, [Rogers] can point to my name all he wants, but I’ll also tell you this: I’ve been an Abdul in Michigan my whole life. This is like the best place in the world to be Abdul, you know why? Because Michiganders are, they’re big-hearted.”

El-Sayed on Islamophobia: "That's the only play they got. They're gonna point at me, they're gonna point at my name, like, 'Wow, he's different.' That's the best you got? You can't actually talk about what you want to do? My name is not raising your gas prices. My name is now… pic.twitter.com/MgvN8uirhq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 5, 2026

New Mexico sued the Department of Justice and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Wednesday for “stonewalling” its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.

In a 40-page filing, New Mexico asked for access to unredacted documents from the Epstein files that it claimed the DOJ has been intentionally withholding.

Zorro Ranch, located roughly 30 miles south of Santa Fe in the high desert, was rumored to be a hotbed of illicit activity under Epstein’s stewardship. Some of the notorious child sex offender’s victims, including Virginia Giuffre, claimed they were trafficked at the New Mexico estate, and emails issued by ranch staffers allege that the bodies of at least two girls were buried under the building by Epstein’s order, according to documents made public by the Justice Department via the Epstein files.

At one point, Epstein even contemplated turning the estate, which he purchased in 1993, into a headquarters for genetic engineering experiments.

“New Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez in a statement. “We asked the Department of Justice to cooperate by providing access to records that may be critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch. Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.”

This is a developing story.

The applications are in, and the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield team made their decisions!

Using the infinite amount of cash at its disposal, Customs and Border Patrol has come up with one of the most morally repugnant options for a government contract imaginable: hunting down people who’ve been deported and demanding they pay civil immigration fines. Yes, if you happen to be familiar with someone who is an especially horrifyingly scummy version of a skip tracer or bounty hunter…

Source

⚡ Quick Take

• If you couldn’t make The Vampire Lestat SDCC 2026 Hall H panel, you’re in luck; we have a full transcript of every question and answer.
• Among other topics discussed, the cast and creators of The Vampire Lestat touched on Lestat and Louis’ love, the arrival of Akasha, and Devil’s Minion.

At San Diego Comic-Con, a new seductive sound rose in Hall H. The sound of thousands of passionate fans cheering for their favorite vampires. Yes, The Vampire Lestat finally made it to SDCC’s Hall H, his biggest stage yet, and it was a very well-deserved achievement. Sadly, not all of the beautifully unwell could join The Vampire Lestat for his San Diego Comic-Con panel this year, featuring executive producer Mark Johnson, writer and executive producer Hannah Moscovitch, Jacob Anderson (Louis), Assad Zaman (Armand), Eric Bogosian (Daniel Molloy), and Sheila Atim (Akasha), and moderated by Jacqueline Coley. And so, as always, Nerdist aspires to be your (Devil’s) Minion in the room. We snagged every last question and answer from The Vampire Lestat‘s SDCC Hall H panel, and it’s our pleasure to bring you a nearly full transcript and account of what happened in that room. No need for the Odyssey of recollection here—don’t be afraid, just start the tape.

YouTube Table of contents

• The Vampire Lestat ‘s Creators on the Final Two Episodes of the Season and Lestat Learning Louis Really Loved Him
• Jacob Anderson Talks His “Severed Head” Performance in The Vampire Lestat SDCC Panel
• Assad Zaman on Armands Armends and the Honesty of His Apology Tour
• A Moment for Devil’s Minion Being Romantic ‘On and Off Screen’ (Whatever That Means ! )
• Mark Johnson Discusses ‘The Generosity of Fandom’ at The Vampire Lestat SDCC Panel
• Eric Bogosian on His Favorite Daniel Molloy Line in The Vampire Lestat
• Hannah Moscovitch on Writing Gabriella in The Vampire Lestat
• Jacob Anderson on Working with Sam Reid and the Connection Between Louis and Lestat
• Sheila Atim Talks Doing Akasha’s Monologue in Two Takes at The Vampire Lestat SDCC Panel
• Eric Bogosian and Jacob Anderson Talk Favorite Set Pieces from The Vampire Lestat via Fan Questions Submitted to the SDCC Panel
• Assad Zaman on an Armand Head Canon That He’s Created
• Queen of The Damned Season 4 Announced and Hannah Moscovitch Becomes Showrunner

The Vampire Lestat‘s Creators on the Final Two Episodes of the Season and Lestat Learning Louis Really Loved Him

Addressing Johnson and Moscovitch, Coley began The Vampire Lestat‘s SDCC panel by discussing the intense journey of the final two episodes of the season. Coley noted, “Those last two episodes, y’all really took us to places we’ve never been before. We had severed heads and vampires in the sun. Mark, talk about those last two episodes and how you knew that was what we were going to eventually get to see on screen?”

Johnson laughed, “I didn’t know anything. I was led by Rolin Jones and Hannah Moscovitch down a road. Who takes a penultimate episode and decapitates the two leads? It’s unheard of. And yet I would love to say I saw this all coming and planned. They took me by the hand and led me down this path that became this extraordinary season.”

AMC

Coley then addressed Moscovitch, asking, “How early on in the writer’s room did y’all land on these last two episodes? Because like I said, I don’t think we could have imagined where they would’ve started with episode six and then the way episode seven ends. It’s just incredible.“

To which Moscovitch replied, “I think we knew fairly early on that we were going to do that. And we wanted episode six to reunite Louis and Lestat and for us to get to see their love again, which is at the very core of the show. And then we wanted to cut their heads off. And we wanted Lestat to have to face his own trauma and run through the different rooms and hallways of his mind until he understood that Gabriella had been abusing him and that Louis really loved him. And that felt important.”

RELATED ARTICLE

Sam Reid on How Louis’ Love Is the Most Important Thing to Lestat Jacob Anderson Talks His “Severed Head” Performance in The Vampire Lestat SDCC Panel

Of course, with all this talk of severed heads, it was time to hear from the vampire whose head had been actually severed on The Vampire Lestat‘s SDCC panel. Coley asked, “Jacob. I’d love for you to talk about what you had to do filming those particular episodes. I mean, I’m guessing it’s harder to do a severed head performance, although you did it admirably, I will say.”

Anderson, insightful as always, offered a fascinating look into playing Louis de Pointe du Lac as just a decapitated head. He revealed, “It’s not the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life while acting. Because also what happens? How do you speak? How do you breathe? So it was all a lot of making things up, like Hokum science.” He laughs in affectionate recollection and adds, “I had a chat with Rolin before the season, and he was like, ‘I promise you, you’re not going to get super bloody this year.’ I was like, “Ah!” He was like, “Is there anything?” And I was like, “The sticky blood I could do without the blood sticking to my skin at the time.” And he’s like, “No, no, no, don’t worry about that.” Anderson grins, “Bet!” He exclaims to laughter from the crowd, “Here comes episode seven.”

AMC

As to how Anderson’s Louis became just a severed head, he reveals, “I was half suspended into a table, and they cut out a me-sized thing. And then I was squatting under the table, and I had this really lovely green crop top situation, which I just enjoyed.”

Release the green crop top cut, AMC!

Assad Zaman on Armands Armends and the Honesty of His Apology Tour

Coley turned to Zaman next, shifting the focus of the SDCC panel to Armand’s journey in The Vampire Lestat. “Let’s just say you started off the season on this so earnest apology tour. And then by the end, we’re like, ‘Girl, talk about machinations. Talk about schemes and just the delicious maliciousness that was Armand this season.’ I’d love for you to talk us about what the script was like when you saw the turn and how delicious was it to play?“

For Zaman, it was a fulfilling and fun journey. He answers, “Very delicious. I thought he was on a legitimate apology tour as well. It was fun. I’d always wanted to explore that side of Armand more. I guess just really go there. And I’m really grateful to Hannah and Rolin for sort of mapping it out in such an unconventional way. You could have seen a dastardly villain this season that was from the get-go, but Armand’s way is more conniving and methodical. And yeah, it was nice to sort of hold onto it and then let it go in that right moment.”

RELATED ARTICLE

Eric Bogosian and Assad Zaman Discuss All Things Armand and Daniel in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT A Moment for Devil’s Minion Being Romantic ‘On and Off Screen’ (Whatever That Means!)

One day, we’ll get a full SDCC Hall panel devoted just to Devil’s Minion, but at The Vampire Lestat SDCC, we at least got a little acknowledgment. Coley noted that Zaman’s Armand had been “delivering some of the most romantic lines of the season” to Bogosian’s Daniel Molloy. And assessed that “there’s like another pair of romantic vampires that we’re now obsessed with.”

Here’s Assad saying Armand and Daniel are romantic “on and off screen” and then cackling with Eric 😂😂😂 #devilsminion #thevampirelestat pic.twitter.com/VhCz6P3afR

— Rotem (Ro) Rusak (@Moondancer1626) July 24, 2026

There wasn’t much discussion of the romance on the panel… But Zaman piped up to say that this pair of vampires was romantic… “On and off-screen” before dissolving into laughter with co-star Bogosian. What “on and off-screen” means, we won’t litigate here. But needless to say, Devil’s Minion offered THE viral moment from the SDCC 2026 The Vampire Lestat panel. And that’s because they are, what? The best ship ever. Let them kiss!

RELATED ARTICLE

Is Past Devil’s Minion Real in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT? Mark Johnson Discusses ‘The Generosity of Fandom’ at The Vampire Lestat SDCC Panel

From there, the conversation turned to the beating heart of The Vampire Lestat, its fandom. Coley addressed Johnson, “Mark, sir, you have been doing television for a very long time, and fandom’s nothing new to you. It’s been like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but this is a different kind of fandom. What was the most surprising thing for you about the Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat fandom?“

Johnson replied without hesitation, “I think what struck me most is their generosity. And by that I mean they said, “All right, show me what you’ve come up with.” And we came up with Rolin Jones’ interpretation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. And they said, “This isn’t strictly speaking what the book was, but it’s in the spirit, and we like what you’re doing.” And they held us to a standard and yet had real flexibility. And I think from the beginning, from the very beginning, they had a real affection for our characters.”

RELATED ARTICLE

AMC’s THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Concert Is the Pinnacle of All Fan Events EVER Eric Bogosian on His Favorite Daniel Molloy Line in The Vampire Lestat

Speaking of characters fans have affection for, Eric Bogosian’s Daniel Molloy certainly had some scene-stealing moments in The Vampire Lestat with many a witty barb. Coley asks, “Eric, I’m curious, for you, what was your favorite line from this season? Because one of our favorite lines was the one where you were referring to Louis and Lestat as Taylor and Travis. What was your favorite scene or moment?“

Bogosian grins and comes up with a deep cut, “I think one of the things that, given how intense Sam is throughout the series, he has a terrific sense of humor, and it’s so much fun to do something with him that’s funny. And my favorite moment of the season was when he’s trying to pronounce the word Worcester, Massachusetts. And it’s “Wuster.” It’s very simple, but he cannot get the words out, and he keeps going “worchesyeeyreyfrhee.” And he’s beautiful. It was so nice to do scenes with him.

i’m having a Very Bad Time right now and this clip of lestat struggling to pronounce “worcester” is keeping my spirit from falling into the center of the earth pic.twitter.com/EYYWKGgZEb

— sin ✨ (@starlesssinner) June 29, 2026

Jacob Anderson chimes in on the SDCC The Vampire Lestat panel to offer his own favorite Daniel Molloyism of the season, one which we loved a lot too. He grins, “Can we also give it up for ‘It’s your boy, Daniel Molloy'”? And Anderson’s imitation of Daniel is incredible.

#tvlspoilers
"it's your boy daniel molloy"

whose bi grandpa just created a couple youtube channel with his boyfriend pic.twitter.com/Se92pMzLcD

— dah 🦇 (@vmprlstt) July 11, 2026 Hannah Moscovitch on Writing Gabriella in The Vampire Lestat AMC

Turning back to Moscovitch, Coley brought up The Vampire Lestat‘s new, important character, Gabriella, played by Jennifer Ehle. Coley noted, “You got the gift this year that is Gabriella being introduced to our incredible cast, played courtesy of the incomparable Jennifer Ehle. I know that you wrote for Gabriella, and that relationship is so complicated, the one between her and Lestat. I’m curious for you, what was your favorite moment between these characters? Or is there something particularly harder to write? I mean, I guess there would be in an incestuous maker/mother-son relationship.“

Moscovitch shares that both the intensity and the depth of Gabriella were essential to The Vampire Lestat this season. At the SDCC panel, she reveals about The Vampire Lestat‘s Gabriella, “Yeah, I loved writing Gabriella’s introduction into the show because she gets such an astonishing one. We trick everyone into thinking Lestat is texting with Louis. And then of course Gabriella shows up, and they make out, and we get to go out on the episode that way. But I also loved writing for her alone. There’s a scene in episode four where she’s in the past, and she talks about what she is, and she talks about how she isn’t a mother or a wife, or a woman anymore. She’s a fever that comes in the night. And that’s one of my favorite pieces of writing that we did in this season.

RELATED ARTICLE

Jennifer Ehle and Sam Reid on Gabriella, Lestat, and The Great Conversion in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Jacob Anderson on Working with Sam Reid and the Connection Between Louis and Lestat

Of course, it wouldn’t be a The Vampire Lestat SDCC panel without giving a little love to Lestat himself and the core relationship between Louis and Lestat. Coley asks, “Louis had a lot this year, Jacob, and too many standout moments to count. I mean, just the teaser trailer of y’all sitting across each other arguing like an old divorced couple would over the assets was amazing. We hadn’t even gotten a season and that was already iconic. And then later, we saw these emotional scenes, like the breakdown scene and so many others. What was it like filming that scene with Sam? Because both of you, this is rare, both of you go to a really incredible place in that scene that’s very rare. It’s usually one person and not the other. So how did y’all set up that day?“

Before answering, Anderson confirms that Coley means that scene between Louis and Lestat in The Vampire Lestat episode six, where Louis has just learned that Lestat and his mother are lovers and Lestat is having a breakdown about the thought of that secret coming out and Louis knowing it. Anderson also insists everyone take a moment to clap for Sam Reid at the SDCC The Vampire Lestat panel. He says, “We should cheer for Sam Reid again. It’s really weird him not being here. But we love you, Sam, if you’re watching.”

AMC

Returning to the question, Anderson notes, “You’d think that a scene like that where it’s like we’re screaming at each other and it’s intense, and all the emotions are just there, waiting to come out. But weirdly, that’s the most comfortable I feel making this show. Is like me and Sam screaming at each other or doing some kind of heightened, strange thing. And I feel like there’s a real… It feels comfortable to do that kind of thing. Whereas normally it would feel quite…”

RELATED ARTICLE

Jacob Anderson on Louis’ Loves, Hates, and Everything In Between in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT

Anderson also gestures to Zaman, “The way that we started season two, being thrown into the fight.” [the ’70s flashback scene to San Francisco in episode five of season two.] And Zaman agrees, “The screaming stuff is the best part. We enjoy that.” And Anderson concludes, “You get really comfortable with it. Yeah, that’s how me and Assed figured out how we work together.”

Sheila Atim Talks Doing Akasha’s Monologue in Two Takes at The Vampire Lestat SDCC Panel

One of the most anticipated characters in The Vampire Lestat was Sheila Atim’s Akasha. And Atim offered some incredible insights into bringing Akasha’s major scene in the season to life. Coley noted, “First of all, no shade to anyone else, but [Sheila’s casting as Akasha] is, in my opinion, some of the best casting since RDJ decided to play Iron Man. Akasha is so beloved. She is so iconic. She is so at the heart of this universe. And despite this season not having that much dialogue, she made her presence known. Let’s be real. Talk us through your monologue and preparing for that.”

Here’s what Atim had to say about feeling the need to “hit a home run” with her big scene:

Yes. Especially when you are coming in right at the end of the shoot, which I was. So we had a day to get it done. Hannah had written an impeccable speech as far as I’m concerned. So I just had to do my job. I had to learn it. I had to turn up. I had to make sure I knew it back to front, inside out, which I did. I paced my hotel room a lot while I was learning it. And then I realized at one point that I would be stuck to this stone table. So I decided to learn it sitting on my bed with one leg up and one leg down in the exact position I would be in, just so I didn’t throw myself on the day.”

And that speech in the script is four pages long and it has no full stops. So it was really about trying to chart the journey through the questions that Akasha is asking in that moment and giving them real meaning, making them feel really present and alive. And then stepping in there and taking on all the wonderful work that all the other departments had done, the hair, the makeup, the set team. Everyone had just prepped so hard for Akasha’s arrival. And yes, I’m playing Akasha, but it was such a team effort. That moment is really the combination of everyone’s brilliant work. And then we were close to the end of the day and we got the first take and then we did another one for safety. It was a two takes.

Only two takes to nail that incredible scene is a beyond astounding feat. Mosovitch praises Atim’s incredible performance and adds some insight into how good it was, “I want to say that we had been in night shoots. We were messed up, and we’d been doing night shoots for months by then. I watched two gaffers on set fully walk into each other because they were so tired. And yet when Sheila did her speech, everyone on set clapped, which I’ve never seen. So that’s how good it was.”

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Sheila Atim on Playing Queen Akasha in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT Eric Bogosian and Jacob Anderson Talk Favorite Set Pieces from The Vampire Lestat via Fan Questions Submitted to the SDCC Panel

Opening it up to fan questions sent into AMC’s social channels, Coley read one from @mythofasmith. They wrote, “I’m a scenic and production design student, so sets are my jam. I’d love any of the actors in this. What was your favorite set piece and why, and how do sets influence your acting?” Coley pointed the question at Bogosian, who gave a beautiful answer.

AMC

Bogosian shared, “Well, you have to go over the whole, all the three seasons. And my favorite is the tree and the gravel in the tree because we had a very… I will never be able to detach the tree from the emotions that we were going through in that scene. And I think in a lot of ways it was symbolic of the whole enterprise, which there’s always a lot of mystery mixed in with this straightforward interpretation of Anne Rice. And then there’s always something kind of surreal going on at the same time in our sets.

Next up, Anderson offered, “The remarkable thing about this show is that everything’s real. It’s so tangible. We have these beautiful set builds that you can interact with. They’re so detailed. In terms of a piece of dressing on the set, should I reveal this?”

Just bringing back Jacob's favorite set piece, the laser-eyed flamingo 😂 pic.twitter.com/kSKcqfLHY0

— Rotem (Ro) Rusak (@Moondancer1626) August 5, 2026

Which, of course, when you ask a question like that! Anderson confessed, “There’s a painting in Lestat’s apartment that I became obsessed with. And it was painted by one of our set-dec team. And it’s a gold-leaf peacock firing pink lasers out of his eyes. And I would just like. I think I always fixate on a thing in the middle of the night. If I’m feeling a bit tired, I sort of fixate on something that makes me feel really happy. And that painting, every time I looked at it, it made me laugh. I don’t think it’s actually… Is it in the show? I don’t know if you ever see it, but it now is up in my living room. It’s massive.”

Assad Zaman on an Armand Head Canon That He’s Created

Next up, social media proposed this question, “The actors do a lot of work and study outside of the script. What is something that you believe to be true about your character, whether a small, fun fact or a larger worldview that isn’t explicitly in the script or show?”

Coley pointed the question at Zaman, but he wasn’t immediatly ready, so he tossed the buck over to Bogosian, who offered a fascinating answer which perhaps wasn’t fully related to the question, but we enjoyed hearing. He said, “Well, there was a question somewhere along the line of what kind of rehearsal we do before our intense scenes. We do no rehearsal. We talk about it, we think about it. But the truth is, is that when I jump into these scenes, specifically with both of these guys, I don’t know what’s going to hit me. They project tremendous aura through their eyes and in the moment. And so that’s what’s happening in the scene, all of that energy comes when we do the scene. I’m a big rehearser. I love to rehearse, but I don’t think I ever rehearsed anything.”

AMC

Meanwhile, Zaman offered the following excellent perspective on Armand, “There’s something about Armand when he’s not being observed that I like, that I took. And I think if you know the books, you know that he’s… The specific alien quality about when you are in stasis, you’re almost on standby, like statuesque. You are kind of unable to emote or think anything because everything you do is shaped by either being obsessed with someone, manipulating someone, or trying to survive your trauma in some way. What do those people do when they’re not being observed? The way Anne Rice describes Armand several times, his sort of ethereal alien quality, it doesn’t feel like it’s… She calls it childish, but I don’t see it as childish. I see it more as an alien that’s unable to understand himself, is only able to play a part. So when there’s no one to see them, they just go a little bit dead, soulless kind of thing. That’s something that I took on.”

Queen of The Damned Season 4 Announced and Hannah Moscovitch Becomes Showrunner

And that was all she wrote at the SDCC The Vampire Lestat Hall H panel… Except, of course, for one very important announcement. The Vampire Lestat had been renewed for season four and will be titled Queen of the Damned. Additionally, Hannah Moscovitch will take over for Rolin Jones as showrunner. We can’t wait to go on this next adventure and we’re crossing our fingers it emerges from the ether soon.

Interview with the Vampire seasons one and two and The Vampire Lestat are now streaming on AMC and AMC+. You can read The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice to get even more insight into the story and its characters.

This post has affiliate links, which means we may earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, we just have to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

The post THE VAMPIRE LESTAT SDCC 2026 Panel: Every Question and Answer (Full Transcript) appeared first on Nerdist.

A bug in how Apple implements its Private Relay feature, which in theory masks users’ IP addresses from the sites they visit, can reveal users’ real IP addresses.

You can watch this episode of Right Now With Perry Bacon above or by following this show on YouTube or Substack.

Public health official Abdul El-Sayed defeated Representative Haley Stevens in a Michigan Senate primary that had become one of the most intense, closely watched contests in the country. In the latest edition of Right Now, political scientists Julia Azari and Seth Masket analyze the results in Michigan’s Senate race. They argue that it showed both the growing strength of the progressive left and the continued power of the party’s center-left. Stevens won by almost 30 points in Detroit, the latest example of a center-left candidate more successfully wooing African American voters than their progressive opponent. Azari and Masket also note the complexity of Tuesday’s results. In Michigan, Will Lawrence and Donavan McKinney, both backed by progressive groups, won competitive primaries over candidates supported by the center-left. On the other hand, former Representative Cori Bush, who had been a leading progressive in the House, was resoundingly defeated in her attempt to win back her seat in Missouri. They also debated the strategies of Wisconsin gubernatorial hopeful Francesca Hong and the very inaccurate polling in the Michigan race.

A critical vulnerability in IBM-owned, low-code AI builder Langflow lets unauthenticated attackers execute code remotely on vulnerable default deployments, potentially putting organizations running those instances at immediate risk. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added CVE-2026-9198 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog after identifying evidence of active exploitation and urged organizations to apply the vendor's mitigation guidance as soon as possible. IBM says the flaw affects Langflow OSS versions 1.0.0 through 1.10.0 and recommends upgrading to version 1.10.1 or later; at the time of writing, the most recent version is 1.11.2. Langflow, for those unfamiliar, is one of the more accessible AI agent builders on the market, as our hands-on look at the tool earlier this year demonstrated. It’s available on Linux, Windows, and macOS, and is basically an end-to-end, drag-and-drop GUI where users can construct agent workflows without having to know much, if anything, about the underlying code. IBM owns the platform now, but Langflow was originally developed by Logspace, which was acquired by DataStax in 2024 before IBM scooped up DataStax, and Langflow with it, in 2025. The acquisition of DataStax and its tools like Langflow by IBM paved the way for Langflow to be integrated into watsonx.ai, IBM’s AI development studio, as a piece of middleware extending watsonx.ai’s capabilities. The ownership changes, however, didn't stop the critical flaw from making it into production releases before it was finally fixed. According to IBM, the vulnerability affects default Langflow deployments and combines two issues that, when chained, allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute code remotely. First, there’s the matter of an auto-login endpoint in default deployments that’s willing to mint superuser tokens to any network caller. Combine those easily obtained superuser rights with the second issue, a code validation endpoint that’ll run any old Python code thrown at it, and you’ve got a recipe for someone taking over your entire Langflow server, or worse. The CVE itself was published on July 17, meaning that it hasn’t taken long for bad actors to realize what they could do with RCE on any system hosting a default Langflow deployment with auto login enabled and that code validation endpoint left accessible on a network. Langflow itself isn’t a vibe-coding platform, instead serving as an interface for building agentic and RAG workflows, so don’t blame vibe coding or no-code security failures for this one. Instead, what we appear to have is a standard case of how default configuration deployments can easily be a disaster. It’s unknown how extensively exploited this vulnerability is; we’ve reached out to IBM to learn more. ®

Authorities in California arrested a man who was walking around the Los Angeles area Trump National Golf Club on Sunday afternoon.

Jeanine John Taele, 38, first arrived at the golf course on Friday, July 31, three days before Trump was scheduled to be there. He was seen wearing an earpiece and taking pictures and video of the course while the Secret Service conducted a security assessment.

Two days later, on August 2, Taele came back to the course, walked up to federal agents there, and told them he was working for State Department security. After Taele was detained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies found a 16-round magazine with hollow-point bullets in his pants pockets and a loaded 9mm pistol in his pickup truck. A home search also revealed a modified A.R.-platform rifle, body armor, and notebooks full of “concerning statements.”

“Mr. Taele’s troubling behavior at the President’s public golf course merely days before the President was expected to arrive raised serious red flags for law enforcement and led to the discovery of an unregistered firearm, a loaded weapon, as well as additional items of concern,” FBI Los Angeles Field Office assistant director Patrick Grandy said. “There is no room for error, particularly in light of previous attempts on President Trump’s life, and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, working with our partners at the U.S. Secret Service, the ATF, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, will investigate this case thoroughly.”

Taele now faces federal charges of “possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle,” a felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

President Trump has yet to comment.

Santa Cruz Police have arrested two 17-year-old juvenile males on suspicion of firing shots at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk late Monday night.
Police said that around 9pm they received reports of shots fired at the parking lot across from the Boardwalk. On arrival, officers canvassed the area for suspects, secured the scene, and collected multiple pieces of evidence.
Investigators later identified and arrested two suspects in Ceres, California.
SCPD worked with the Santa Cruz Seaside Company, which operates the Boardwalk, on the investigation.
Police said officers responded to reports of shots fired on the evening of Aug. 3. No one was struck by the gunfire, and no injuries were reported.
A Reddit user said that the Boardwalk was evacuated, and that several people began to scatter and scream.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call Santa Cruz Police Department at 831.420.5995. Anonymous tips can also be sent to the police department at 831.420.5995.

⚡ Quick Take

• The voice actors behind Batman, Harley Quinn, and Joker in Batman: Caped Crusader talk about season two of the animated noir series.

The second season of Batman: Caped Crusader is here, and this batch of episodes set in a noir version of Gotham City might even surpass the first. A lot of is thanks to Bruce Timm and showrunners James Tucker and Geoffrey Thorne. But much of its success comes in no small part to the incredibly talented voice artists bringing all of these characters to life. At San Diego Comic-Con 2026, Nerdist, along with other journalists, spoke to several key members of the cast, including Hamish Linklater (Batman), Jamie Chung (Harley Quinn), and our new Joker, House of the Dragon’s Matthew Needham.

Prime Video/Warner Bros. Animation

Linklater, whom genre fans know from his roles in Legion, Midnight Mass, and Widow’s Bay, sounds so eerily like Batman: The Animated Series‘ iconic Kevin Conroy, it feels like he was born to play the part. When asked if they chose him as the new Bruce Wayne based on his previous work, he admitted he auditioned just like everyone else. “Oh, man. I auditioned, I made a thing, and I sent it out into the universe. Often I would never hear anything back. But yeah, and I got lucky.” He got lucky, but so did the fans, as Linklater is truly a perfect Dark Knight.

Prime Video/Warner Bros. Animation

As for Needham, who joined the cast this season as Joker, he said, “I auditioned. It was an email. They said they wanted him to be European and humorless. Which is great. It’s a really freeing thing. And the dialogue they gave me was from the Joker’s first appearance in the comics [In Batman #1 from 1940]. So it was quite a concentrated chunk of dialogue. And I sent it off, never expecting it would be me, ’cause it just doesn’t happen to people. It was mad to do it all on a phone. And did multiple versions instead of the one I thought was best, and then I just got it.”

Warner Bros. Animation

Of course, the Joker has had so many iconic iterations over the years, including two Oscar-winning performances. So the question had to be asked: Did Needham instinctually channel any previous Jokers for his audition? “I didn’t need to go back to any iteration, because they’re all so baked into my DNA,” Needham said. “I can just close my eyes, and I can hear Mark Hamill’s Joker now. So for me, it’s a strange one, because they wanted a complete departure. So being in the booth, playing the Joker, but not being manic, not having that sort of Joker energy is a really strange feeling. Because you can sort of feel a muscle memory that you have about the Joker, and you start to go towards that. And they’re all very good at pulling me back, and sort of talking me down to being quieter, calmer. “Flatter” was an actual note.

Prime Video/Warner Bros. Animation

The shadow of these iconic characters looms large for each actor, and the balance of bringing themselves to the role while also acknowledging the weight of each character was significant. Hamish Linklater said, “I think we all love our characters so much because of other people’s performances that preceded us. And just our experience of the comic books as kids, too. But, I think when you love something, you want to do right by it, and I think that’s really a nice place to come to work.” As for Jamie Chung’s take on Harley, she said, “I feel like imitation is the biggest form of flattery, and it’s hard not to imitate Arlene Sorkin’s version of Harley. But that would also be a disservice, right? This is a whole new iteration of Batman, but I kind of sprinkled in the kind of her bubbly attitude.”

The 1940s era atmosphere is a big part of the appeal of the series for the fans and the actors as well. But Linklater admitted he didn’t even realize that the show was in period when he recorded his dialogue. He said, “It’s embarrassing, but I don’t think I knew that it was in the ’40s when it started. And then I finally saw it, and I thought, ‘Oh, right. There weren’t any fancy gadgets the whole time!’ Jamie Chung cited the noir flavor as a big reason why she loves the series. She told us, “I think what I loved the most, when I did season one, was the animation. It was so film noir, and it was so beautifully drawn. The shadowing, it was just really cinematic. It was really beautiful.”

Prime Video/Warner Bros. Animation

So far, Caped Crusader has treated each villain’s story, for the most part, as if it’s a little fable. So there hasn’t been much room for the classic DC Comics trope, “All the villains team up to take care of their Batman problem.” And that’s a storyline Jamie Chung would love to see, especially as her Harley and the Joker have never met. Nerdist asked if that’s a storyline the creators proposed yet, but Chung said, “I think it’d be a great time to get them all together at Arkham Asylum. And then do a breakout episode. But no. We’re not there yet.” Here’s hoping they give us a third season, so we can finally see these iconic villains team up. Or at least, play poker, like they did on B:TAS. We’d love to see a 1940s version of that classic scenario play out on screen.

Batman: Caped Crusader seasons one and two are now streaming on Prime Video.

The post BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER Cast on Playing Iconic DC Comics Roles appeared first on Nerdist.

For House Republicans hoping to rid their caucus of scandal-tarred lawmakers accused of heinous acts of domestic violence and sexual harassment, the past 24 hours were a decidedly mixed bag. Republicans got good news when Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) announced in the wee hours of Wednesday morning that he was dropping his reelection bid, after the House Ethics Committee released a report laying…

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A cartoon by Clay Jones. Related | Todd Blanche promises national abortion ban as attorney general…

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Freedom 250’s corporate sponsors may have violated the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

Some of America’s biggest corporations shelled out millions of dollars to support Freedom 250, the Trump administration’s public-private partnership that oversaw spending for the country’s semiquincentennial celebration.

It was no secret who was involved: The Freedom 250 website proudly displayed nearly two dozen of its sponsors, including Palantir, Boeing, ExxonMobil, United Health Group, and more.

But most of those corporations—including the defense contractors Lockheed Martin, GE Aerospace, and Northrop Grumman—did not disclose the payments on lobbyist contribution reports that were due to Congress by last Friday, according to a NOTUS investigation.

Just three Freedom 250 backers made note of their event contributions in their recent filings, as required by the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act: Chevron, United Airlines, and RTX, according to NOTUS.

The law “is certainly not airtight, and certain entities have found ways to try to exploit this law,” Aaron Scherb, a longtime ethics and democracy advocate, told NOTUS.

“Nonetheless, it requires full disclosure of political spending when companies are trying to curry favor with an administration and elected officials,” Scherb said. “So, companies contributing to Freedom 250 should absolutely be required to disclose their political spending.”

Freedom 250 is a subsidiary of Task Force 250, an entity that Donald Trump signed into existence by executive order days into his second term. It largely replaced the “America250” nonprofit that was created by Congress a decade ago to oversee the semiquincentennial’s funding and development strategies.

Unlike America250, Freedom 250 is technically a limited liability company housed within the National Park Service’s charity arm, the National Park Foundation.

Trump himself is the chair of Freedom 250, while the rest of his Cabinet are listed as members.

“When it comes to other nonprofits, the question is always whether it was created and controlled by Trump,” Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at the left-leaning nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen, told NOTUS. “But there is little question about Freedom 250.”

Shopify says AI isn’t cannibalizing search traffic the way it has for publishers. Instead, AI-driven traffic and orders to Shopify stores tripled year over year in Q2.

Plans for floating datacenters in the US have advanced beyond the handshake stage, with Samsung Heavy Industries and Mousterian Corporation signing an engineering contract. Dallas-based Mousterian, which describes itself quaintly as "a developer of water-adjacent datacenter infrastructure," says the contract covers its first project, planned for deployment in Texas. The pair intend to deliver further bespoke moored bit barns for the US market, each delivering 50 MW of critical IT capacity. Under the terms of the deal, Mousterian and Samsung will jointly perform the basic design, detailed engineering, and production design for their floating facilities. The work is intended to pave the way for a definitive Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract, with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) expected to classify the waterborne facilities. Such facilities could avoid competition for scarce development land, be moved if necessary, and draw on the surrounding water for cooling. Mousterian says its designs use non-evaporative cooling that consumes no potable water and releases no discharge into the surrounding waterway. It also claims that dispensing with air-cooled chillers and fans will minimize noise pollution. Samsung Heavy Industries started getting into floating server farms earlier this year, aiming to turn its shipbuilding and offshore engineering expertise to take advantage of the high demand for datacenters. Last month, The Register reported how the Korean giant had signed an agreement with server specialist Supermicro to conduct operational verification of AI server systems deployed in river and offshore environments, and was scoping out a date in 2028 to have its first facility operational. The pilot with Mousterian is intended to show that floating data halls moored beside existing power plants can bring hyperscale and AI capacity online faster than conventional sites. It is understood that the pilot site will be adjacent to an existing combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant in Houston. "Signing this engineering contract transitions our partnership with Samsung Heavy Industries from intent to execution and gives us a clear path to scaling factory-built critical IT capacity for AI-class facilities," said Mousterian chief exec Min Suh. "Because the facility is built in a shipyard, fabrication advances in parallel with sitework rather than after it – a schedule and scale that conventional delivery methods cannot match." Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Sung-an Choi said that waterborne server farms are a natural extension of the engineering capabilities the firm has honed over five decades in offshore and maritime construction. "Together with Mousterian, we intend to deliver floating datacenters with the same rigor, quality, and schedule certainty that define our maritime track record," he added. But the pair may run into a snag. Texas governor Greg Abbott this week paused approvals for datacenter projects seeking access to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid until state regulators audit their connection requests. ERCOT is considering requests for more than 474 GW of new connections, over five times the state's peak electricity demand, Abbott says. Datacenters account for 90 percent of those requests. Under his direction, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and ERCOT are seeking information from those projects, such as whether they are providing their own power or dependent on the grid, and their expected water consumption. Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by PUCT and ERCOT will be denied a connection. ®