The champ is back. After a year away from the famed eating contest on the Coney Island boardwalk, Joey Chestnut returned to once again dominate at Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest by consuming 70 1/2hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes to win another Mustard Belt.
Under sunny skies in 78-degree weather, which could be described as near-perfect conditions to spend July 4th outside in Brooklyn consuming frankfurters, Chesnut’s victory wasn’t even close, with the next closest competitor downing 24 fewer hot dogs.
Chestnut’s record-extending 17th title in New York came after the Major League Eating organization, which oversees the eating contest, barred Chestnut from the event in 2024 after he struck a deal with plant-based food company Impossible Foods.
In June, the famed competitive eater announced that he and organizers had agreed to his return to the competition after Chestnut pledged his allegiance to Nathan’s Famous, the restaurant.
“Oh my gosh, I was nervous,” the 41-year-old told ESPN after the win.
“(The) first couple of hot dogs, I was fumbling a little bit, but I found a pretty good rhythm. My goal was 70 to 77 – I really wanted a little bit more. There’s next year and I’m just happy I am here,” he said.
He set the world record at this event in 2021 when he ate 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021.
In 2024, Chestnut devoured 83 all-beef hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in a Netflix Labor Day event in Las Vegas.
Earlier on Friday, Miki Sudo once again showed why she is at the top of the hot dog-eating game. The women’s world record holder won her 11th title at this contest, with 33 franks and buns consumed in 10 minutes. In a tight race between second and third place, Michelle Lesco (22 3/4) edged out Domenica Dee (21 1/2) for runner-up.
Last year, she broke the women’s all-time mark with 51 hot dogs consumed.
Despite the win, Sudo said she felt like she let the fans down by not eclipsing her record haul.
“I heard people in the crowd saying go for 52,” she told host broadcaster ESPN.
“Obviously, I’m always setting my goals high, but the hot dogs just weren’t cooperating. For some reason, the buns felt larger today.”
Suto shared the winner’s podium in 2024 with Patrick Bertoletti, who took advantage of Chestnut’s absence to win the men’s event with 58 hot dogs and buns devoured. Bertoletti finished second to Chestnut on Friday.
Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language just got a little more… frosted. In the third iOS 26 developer beta, Apple dialed back the transparency of navigation bars, buttons, and tabs that once allowed you to clearly see the content beneath them.
Apple already toned down the glassiness of Liquid Glass after many users complained that it was too transparent and made it more difficult to see certain options, like the icons inside the Control Center. This most recent beta makes Liquid Glass elements even more solid, likely as a way to improve readability. Still, some users see the change as a reversal of the flashy, glass-like design that Apple showcased at WWDC.
This is still just a developer beta, so it’s likely that Apple will continue to make tweaks before it releases iOS 26 to the public in September.
Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero agreed to a five-year, $239 million maximum rookie contract extension that could reach $287 million, Mike Miller of LIFT Sports Management told ESPN on Monday.
Miller said Banchero’s new deal includes triggers to elevate the base salary to the supermax should the Magic franchise cornerstone make either an All-NBA team or earn MVP or Defensive Player of the Year honors next season.
The deal also has a player option for Banchero in 2030-31 — the first time a rookie max extension has had a player option since 2021, when Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) and Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks) completed their rookie max contracts.
Magic president Jeff Weltman said after last season that the franchise would take an aggressive approach this offseason, and after the acquisition of Bane and signing of veteran guard Tyus Jones, the team is well-positioned to be a contender in the Eastern Conference.
Orlando’s selection of Banchero with the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft triggered a turnaround for the franchise that has led to two postseason appearances in the past two seasons.
Despite an oblique injury that sidelined him for 34 games over the first two months of 2024-25, Banchero went on to have a career season, setting high averages of 25.9 points and 7.5 rebounds to go with 4.8 assists.
He’s only the eighth player in NBA history to average at least 25, 7 and 4 at age 22 or younger. And he joined Tracy McGrady and Shaquille O’Neal as the only Magic players to average more than 25 points in a season.
Banchero took his game to another level after the All-Star break, averaging 29.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists. In the playoffs, he put together seven straight games with 25 points or more spanning the 2024 and 2025 seasons, tying the longest streak in Magic history.
He has the third-most career points through three seasons in Magic history with 4,432, behind only O’Neal and Penny Hardaway.
The 2022-23 NBA Rookie of the Year, who earned his first All-Star selection in 2024, has averaged 22.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists in his three NBA seasons.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of federal officers in tactical gear and about 90 members of the California National Guard were deployed for about an hour Monday to a mostly empty park in a Los Angeles neighborhood with a large immigrant population. It wasn’t immediately known if any arrests were made.
Defense officials had said the troops and over a dozen military vehicles would help protect immigration officers as they carried out a raid in MacArthur Park.
Federal agents ride on horseback at MacArthur Park, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. Their uniforms read “Police U.S. Border Patrol,” and “HSI,” which stands for Homeland Security Investigations. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Federal agents ride on horseback at MacArthur Park, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. Their uniforms read “Police U.S. Border Patrol,” and “HSI,” which stands for Homeland Security Investigations. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
“What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation,” said Mayor Karen Bass, who called it a “political stunt.”
She said there were children attending a day camp in the park who were quickly ushered inside to avoid seeing the troops. Still, Bass said an 8-year-old boy told her that “he was fearful of ICE.”
Bass showed video of officers on horseback sweeping across an empty soccer field.
Federal officers descend on MacArthur Park
The operation occurred at a park in a neighborhood with large Mexican, Central American and other immigrant populations and is lined by businesses with signs in Spanish and other languages that has been dubbed by local officials as the “Ellis Island of the West Coast.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass talks on her mobile phone next to a border patrol federal agent at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass talks on her mobile phone next to a border patrol federal agent at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Among those who spoke with Bass were health care outreach workers who were working with homeless residents Monday when troops pointed guns at them and told them to get out of the park.
Sprawling MacArthur Park has a murky lake ringed by palm trees, an amphitheater that hosts summer concerts and sports fields where immigrant families line up to play soccer in the evenings and on weekends. A thoroughfare on the east side is often crammed with unlicensed food stands selling tacos and other delicacies, along with vendors speaking multiple languages and hawking cheap T-shirts, toys, knickknacks and household items.
“The world needs to see the troop formation on horses walking through the park, in search of what? In search of what? They’re walking through the area where the children play,” Bass said.
Eunisses Hernandez, a council member whose district includes MacArthur Park said “it was chosen as this administration’s latest target precisely because of who lives there and what it represents.”
Operation escalates Trump’s immigration crackdown
The operation in the large park about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of downtown LA included 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances and the armed soldiers, defense officials said. It came after President Donald Trump deployed thousands of Guard members and active duty Marines to the city last month following protests over previous immigration raids.
Federal agents stage at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Federal agents stage at MacArthur Park Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Trump has stepped up efforts to realize his campaign pledge of deporting millions of immigrants in the United States illegally and shown a willingness to use the nation’s military might in ways other U.S. presidents have typically avoided.
In response to questions about the operation in MacArthur Park, the Department of Homeland Security said in an email that the agency would not comment on “ongoing enforcement operations.”
More than 4,000 California National Guard and hundreds of U.S. Marines have been deployed in Los Angeles since June — against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last week, the military announced about 200 of those troops would be returned to their units to fight wildfires.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called the events at the park “a spectacle.”
“This is not about going after dangerous criminals,” Newsom said of Trump’s mass deportation agenda. “This is about destroying the fabric of this state.”
LA raid ends abruptly
The defense officials told reporters that it was not a military operation but acknowledged that the size and scope of the Guard’s participation could make it look like one to the public. That is why the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details about the raid that were not announced publicly.
“It’s just going to be more overt and larger than we usually participate in,” one of the officials said before the raid ended abruptly with no explanation.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass arrives at MacArthur Park, where federal agents were staging, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass arrives at MacArthur Park, where federal agents were staging, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
The primary role of the service members would be to protect the immigration enforcement officers in case a hostile crowd gathered, that official said. They are not participating in any law enforcement activities such as arrests, but service members can temporarily detain citizens if necessary before handing them over to law enforcement, the official said.
Local officials say feds are sowing fear
“This morning looked like a staging for a TikTok video,” said Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, adding if Border Patrol wants to film in LA, “you should apply for a film permit like everybody else. And stop trying to scare the bejesus out of everybody who lives in this great city and disrupt our economy every day.”
Chris Newman, legal director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said he received a credible tip about the operation Monday.
“It was a demonstration of escalation,” Newman said. “This was a reality TV spectacle much more so than an actual enforcement operation.”
Since federal agents have been making arrests at Home Depot parking lots and elsewhere in Los Angeles, Newman said fewer people have been going to the park and immigrant neighborhoods near the city’s downtown.
“The ghost town-ification of LA is haunting, to say the very least,” he said.
Betsy Bolte, who lives nearby, came to the park after seeing a military-style helicopter circling overhead.
She said it was “gut-wrenching” to witness what appeared to be a federal show of force on the streets of a U.S. city. “It’s terror and, you know, it’s ripping the heart and soul out of Los Angeles,” she said. “I am still in shock, disbelief, and so angry and terrified and heartbroken.”
___
Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Damian Dovarganes and Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles; Julie Watson in San Diego; Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California; and Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, contributed to this report.
