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17th Oct 2019

Congratulations are in order for Jessica Mauboy, who took to Instagram yesterday to share the exciting news of her engagement to her long-time boyfriend, Themeli Magripilis.

Sharing a photo of herself and her fiancé while holidaying in Greece, the 30-year-old announced their exciting relationship milestone with a sweet caption sharing their swoon-worthy engagement story.

“The love of my life proposed to me in his family’s home town of Kalymnos, Greece on the beach at sunset,” said the singer. “We are so happy. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. Thank you for all the love.”

Insights into the pair’s question-popping moment aside, Mauboy also gave us our first look at her stunning engagement ring, the rather sizeable piece of jewellery drawing just as much attention as the loved-up couple themselves.

Working with the single piece of ring evidence we have to date, Magripilis looks to have given Mauboy an oval-cut diamond in what is most likely a white gold or platinum setting.

Upon closer inspection, the central oval diamond also looks to be surrounded by a halo of smaller cut diamonds, an engagement ring design that’s recently increased in popularity among celebrities and royals alike. Cue us adding her ring to our secret Pinterest board filled with engagement ring inspiration.

Mauboy’s engagement to Magripilis comes after 11 years of dating, with eight years of that period spent in a long-distance relationship, but the singer has reportedly never wavered from the fact that her fiancé is the one.

In an interview back in 2016, Mauboy noted that it was yet another trip to Greece that made her realise that she would be with him for life: “Out of all the moments we have had together it was a realisation that yes, I am going to be with him for the rest of my life, whether or not I have the ring,” she said.

Continuing, the singer also commented on not only Magripilis’s importance to her, but also his compatibility with her family. “I know deeply how amazing he is, how he is with my family and they are with him,” Mauboy said, before seizing one final opportunity to compliment him: “And he’s so hot.”

The singer hasn’t yet given up any details around her impending nuptials just yet. But in the meantime, we are ready and standing by for Mauboy to spill any information around her wedding date, location, and most importantly, her dress.

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The spring racing season has officially begun, meaning the time to update your wardrobe with new season accessories – think shoes, handbags, jewellery, hair accessories and headwear – is most definitely now.

Thankfully, celebrated Australian accessories brand, Mimco, and its 2019 spring style ambassador, Australian actor and model Jodi Anasta, have you covered this spring. In a season filled with countless opportunities to dress up, it is fitting that the brand has enlisted the Neighbours star as the ultimate style inspiration for the spring carnival.

“I met the Mimco design team at an event earlier this year,” the actor shared via a statement from the brand. “I love the fact that they’re a design-led business and when I expressed my interest in creating something with them it all just evolved from there. Being an actor, it’s really exciting to work with creatives from other disciplines,” Anasta added. “I also shot racing looks as part of Mimco’s spring campaign which just launched.”

“I’m excited to be collaborating with Mimco on a special project for spring racing,” she continued. “I’m working with their design team in Melbourne to create some beautiful one-off pieces that I’ll be wearing to the track.”

With a design ethos that focuses on attention to detail, Mimco’s unique spring racing collection is one that calls on a handful of the season’s top trends, including embellished hair accessories, high-impact millinery, and mix and match statement jewellery.

From crowns and oversized bows, to turbans and ribbons, the spring racing collection boasts a wide range of must-have headbands, as the trend is one that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. The collection also features a number of other headwear options, including hats and fascinators, for those who want to stand out from the sea of racegoers on the day.

On top of that, the collection also speaks to a number of other accessory trends you’re going to want to dabble in this spring. Try your hand at styling a pair of sunglasses with embellished chains, mix and match a series of pins and barrettes in your go-to up-do, or go the extra mile and accessorise with a pair of oversized statement earrings for a bold and brave look.

Mimco’s new spring collection will be available to shop online and in-store at Mimco boutiques and David Jones from now, so be sure to browse the range before heading trackside this season. Bespoke Mimco pieces designed exclusively for Australian actor Jodi Anasta will be revealed on Derby Day.Click Here: kenzo online españa

California Sen. Kamala Harris taunted Elizabeth Warren in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate, challenging the Massachusetts senator to join her in demanding that Twitter shut down President Trump’s account.

In a discussion of curbing the power of big technology companies, Harris turned to Warren and said she was surprised she disagreed with her on the issue. Harris accused Trump of using his Twitter account to threaten witnesses, whom she did not identify, and obstruct justice. “He and his account should be taken down,” she said.

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“I don’t just want to push Donald Trump off Twitter; I want to push him out of the office,” Warren said before pivoting to her plan to break up Amazon, Facebook and other big tech companies.

Harris kept pressing. “You can’t say you’re for corporate responsibility if it doesn’t apply to everyone,” she told Warren.

Warren continued ignoring Harris’ challenge, turning next to campaign money. “We should ask if people are taking money from the big tech executives,” Warren said, avoiding any direct statement on Silicon Valley’s longtime support for the California senator and other rivals onstage at the CNN debate.

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — 

Democratic candidates found common ground in denouncing President Trump, but struck a more fractious tone on healthcare, gun policy and money in politics during a crowded presidential primary debate Tuesday night.

The most pointed broadsides were aimed at Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, reflecting her ascendance in the polls, while she and fellow septuagenarian rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden, sought to assure voters they are hardy enough to occupy the Oval Office.

Twelve candidates — the most ever to appear on a debate stage — squared off in an arena on the leafy campus of Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, a state Democrats lost to Trump by 8 percentage points in 2016. In the Rust Belt setting, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota eschewed “Midwestern nice” for a more pugnacious approach in selling themselves as the best candidates to take back the state.

It was the fourth debate of the primary season, and the first since House Democrats began an impeachment investigation of Trump after his entreaties to Ukraine’s president for damaging information on a potential 2020 opponent, Biden, spilled into public view.

All candidates on the stage support the inquiry and jostled largely to outdo one another in denouncing the president as corrupt.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, asked whether her support for removing Trump from office is fair to the president, said her stance involved “just being observant, because he has committed crimes in plain sight.”

The sole note of hesitancy on the subject came from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, the last of the Democratic candidates to embrace impeachment.

“If the House votes to impeach, the Senate does not vote to remove Donald Trump, he walks out and he feels exonerated, further deepening the divides in this country that we cannot afford,” Gabbard said.

Tom Steyer, the Bay Area hedge funder-turned-liberal activist, used his debate stage debut to remind voters of his long-standing quest for impeachment.

“Two years ago, I started the Need to Impeach movement, because I knew there was something desperately wrong at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,” he said.

The impeachment controversy has been fraught territory for Biden, whose son Hunter’s position on the board of a Ukrainian gas company is an innuendo-laden obsession for Trump and his allies. There is no evidence Biden or his son committed any wrongdoing.

The candidate largely dodged the question about the appropriateness of Hunter Biden serving on that board while his father served as vice president. Biden instead pointed to the public comments his son made earlier in the day, in which he expressed some regret for his judgment but denied he did anything wrong or illegal.

“My son’s statement speaks for itself,” Biden said. “I did my job. I never discussed a single thing with my son about anything having to do with Ukraine. No one has indicated I have.”

Biden then shifted the focus to Trump. “He is going after me because he knows if I get the nomination I will beat him like a drum,” he said.

The impeachment maelstrom, which has forced Biden to revamp his message on the campaign trail, appeared to inoculate him from onstage attacks from his rivals, who appeared wary to echo Trump’s line of attack.

“That was so offensive,” said New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker of the questions directed at Biden. “The only person sitting at home that was enjoying that was Donald Trump.”

While Biden drew few jabs, Warren faced most of the incoming, as her rivals criticized her for being evasive and overly optimistic about the feasibility of her sweeping policy proposals.

After Warren refused to state definitively whether her support for “Medicare for all” would lead to higher taxes on middle-class families, emphasizing instead overall lower costs, Buttigieg laced into her for avoiding “a yes or no answer.”

“Your signature, Senator, is to have a plan for everything. Except this,” he said.

Warren was also singled out by Harris, who renewed her call to ban Trump from Twitter and pressed her fellow senator to sign on.

“I was surprised to hear that you did not agree with me on this subject of what should be the rules around corporate responsibility for these big tech companies,” Harris told Warren.

Warren, who initially laughed off the idea on the campaign trail, did not sign on, even as she renewed her broader call to break up tech giants. She noted she would not take money from executives from these companies at closed-door fundraisers, an implicit swipe at Harris who has relied substantially on big givers.

“I don’t just want to push Donald Trump off Twitter,” Warren said. “I want to push him out of the White House.”

While Warren largely parried with lower-polling rivals, she also was strafed by Biden, who questioned her ability to execute her plans.

Warren responded to Biden by highlighting her successful crusade — while he was vice president — to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Biden took exception.

“I went out on the floor and got you votes,” he said of his lobbying to get the bureau approved, his voice tipping into a roar. “I got votes for that bill. I convinced people to vote for it.”

“I am deeply grateful to President Obama, who fought so hard to make sure that agency was passed into law,” Warren said, as Biden smirked at the lack of thanks directed his way.

“But understand this: People told me, go for something little, go for something small, go for something the big corporations will be able to accept,” she continued. “I said, no, let’s go for an agency that will make structural change in our economy.”

The conflicts were not limited to the front-runners.

Buttigieg appeared particularly eager to draw contrasts, rekindling a fight he had with former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas over the latter’s call to take assault weapons from gun owners rather than a voluntary buyback program favored by most Democratic candidates.

O’Rourke denied he would send law enforcement door-to-door to retrieve guns but struggled to explain how he would otherwise enforce the proposal beyond relying on voluntary compliance from gun owners.

“Look, Congressman, you just made it clear that you don’t know how this is actually going to take weapons off the streets. If you can develop the plan further, I think we can have a debate about it,” Buttigieg said.

“We cannot wait for purity tests, we have to just get something done,” he said.

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O’Rourke said there was not a binary choice; a president could take more moderate steps such as tighter background checks and “red flag” laws while pursuing the buyback. He called on Democrats to follow the lead of gun control groups and “not be limited by the polls and the consultants and the focus groups.”

Buttigieg, a military veteran and the first openly gay major presidential candidate, shot back: “I don’t need lessons from you on courage — political or personal. Everyone on this stage is determined to get something done.”

With the three front-runners in the race all in their 70s — and one of them recovering from a heart attack suffered earlier this month — the moderators turned to the issue of age.

Sanders, who looked energetic after a heart procedure, said voters would see in the coming days that he is in fine shape to run the country.

“Let me invite you all to a major rally we are having in Queens, New York,” the 78-year-old Brooklyn native said, referring to a big campaign event planned for Saturday, teasing a “special guest.” News broke during the debate that progressive rising star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York would endorse him at the rally.

“We are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country,” Sanders said. “That is how I think I can reassure the American people.”

Biden, who will turn 77 next month and at times has appeared tired on the campaign trail, touted his age as a selling point and vowed to release his full medical records before a single vote is cast. When pressed, he said he’d release them by the Iowa caucuses in February.

“One of the reasons I am running is because of my age and experience,” he said. “With it comes wisdom. … I know what the job is. I’ve been engaged.”

Warren, who is 70 but often projects considerable pep on the stump, also made no apologies.

“I will out-work, out-organize and outlast anyone,” she vowed. “And that includes Donald Trump, Mike Pence or whoever Republicans get stuck with.”

Mason reported from Los Angeles, Bierman from Westerville and Halper from Washington.

California billionaire Tom Steyer spent $47 million during the first three months of his presidential bid — a jaw-dropping sum that places him on track to join the biggest self-funding political candidates in American history.

Joe Biden, one of the front-runners in the Democratic presidential primary, finds himself in a precarious financial position, having spent ($17.7 million) more than he raised ($15.7 million), according to campaign finance disclosure forms released late Tuesday.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg raised the most money among Democrats and also have the greatest cash reserves.

The rest of the field is lagging. California Sen. Kamala Harris’ fundraising was flat at $11.8 million. She spent $14.6 million, nearly double the amount spent in the prior quarter. She has $10.5 million cash on hand.

The candidates’ fundraising and spending from July 1 to Sept. 30 were detailed in mandated campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

The disclosures come less than four months before the first contest is held in Iowa in February.

President Trump raised $41 million during this period, and his joint fundraising committees with the Republican National Committee raised tens of millions of dollars more — showing the power of incumbency. (The Democrat who wins the party’s nomination will eventually be able to raise larger sums with the national and state parties.)

Trump’s GOP rivals for the nomination — former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld — have raised a pittance in comparison to the president.

Steyer is the Democratic candidate who can immediately match or surpass the Trump campaign financially. The hedge fund manager turned eco-warrior is worth an estimated $1.6 billion. He has donated $47.6 million to his campaign and raised an additional $2 million, according to the FEC reports.

Much of Steyer’s spending was devoted to earning him a place on Tuesday night’s debate stage, including $15.6 million on media ad buys, $14.8 million on digital ads and $3.7 million on direct mail, according to the disclosure forms. Hundreds of thousands of dollars more were spent on production costs. Steyer’s spending led several of his rivals to accuse him of trying to buy a spot on the debate stage.

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These efforts helped Steyer meet the polling and small-donor thresholds to qualify for the debate. During the faceoff with 11 of his Democratic rivals, Steyer did not have a moment that is likely to generate a boost in the polls, where he is mired in the low single digits.

The 62-year-old has never run for public office before. He is among the biggest Democratic donors in the country and has said he would spend $100 million of his wealth on his presidential bid. He has been among the most vocal advocates of the impeachment of Trump.

If Steyer continues his donating and spending patterns, he is on track to join the ranks of major self-funding political hopefuls such as past presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Ross Perot, California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and Connecticut Senate candidate Linda McMahon.

During this third quarter, Biden raised $15.7 million and spent nearly $17.7 million. The former vice president has $9 million in the bank, but his fundraising and reserves are notably weaker than those of his top rivals.

Sanders raised $28 million, spent $21.6 million and has $33.7 million cash on hand, according to the reports. Warren raised $24.7 million and spent $18.7 million, with $25.7 million in the bank.

Buttigieg lags behind the top candidates in the polls but can compete with them financially, which could be critical in coming months should the dynamics of the race change. He raised $19.2 million, spent $18.5 million and has $23.4 million in the bank.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who is running a campaign focused on the impacts of automation on the workforce, raised $9.9 million and has $6.4 million in the bank — more than several of his better-known rivals, including former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, former Obama administration official Julián Castro and Sens. Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar.

Still, any of these candidates are in a better place than Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam. His campaign finance report showed he raised $5 — a figure the presidential hopeful says must be a mistake.

WESTERVILLE, Ohio  — 

Here’s the dirty little secret of covering a debate: Most of the reporters who travel hundreds of miles to write about them will never get into the actual debate room.

Tuesday marks the fourth presidential primary Democratic debate of the 2020 campaign. The 12 qualifying candidates will share the most crowded stage yet — at Otterbein University, a central Ohio liberal arts campus of brick buildings and shady trees that are now turning various shades of orange and red. The first two debates, which featured 20 candidates, were spread across two nights. The third was limited to 10 candidates.

Almost all of the working press here is siloed in a gymnasium filled with televisions blaring CNN, promotional banners strewn along the rafters, American flags, laptop computers, chattering reporters and brightly lit human cubby spaces used for televised live shots. This gym doubles as the spin room, a space for campaigns and candidates to assure reporters that this debate will make them the front-runner or to insist that their various gaffes won’t sink their chances of becoming president.

The actual debate is next door in a small, heavily secured arena. Media were allowed a brief tour but only if they could get through security at the designated touring time, hours before the debate was set to begin.

Logistics for these events are dizzying and impressive. The more bucolic the setting, the more bizarre the transformation — a phalanx of coastal media descending on a quiet Midwestern university. In the hours before the debate, many reporters file stories, eat snacks and schmooze with pollsters and political operatives. But there is also a sizable number of reporters filming “behind the scenes” segments — that show reporters typing stories, eating snacks and schmoozing sources.

Otterbein University has been turned into a fortress, with law enforcement officials restricting cars to far-off parking lots accessible by shuttle. A few local residents who made it on campus Tuesday took selfies next to one of the red CNN sculptures that was placed outside the arena.

Most of the students are on fall break but a few members of the women’s soccer team practiced on the field earlier Tuesday, behind a set of CNN tents. One of their practice goals had one of the three-dimensional CNN logos tucked behind it, a triumph in branding.

Debate organizers and television networks are well practiced at building these remote studios. But the bigger challenge will come when the debate begins, with 12 candidates vying for attention. It will be up to moderators from co-sponsors CNN and the New York Times to maintain a coherent narrative.

The rest of us will be watching from next door — eating snacks, texting sources and typing stories.

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Twelve candidates. One stage. Meet the dozen who are vying for precious seconds in the spotlight:

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii momentarily considered boycotting the debate to protest what she called “rigging” of the primary contest, but changed her mind and is appearing onstage in Ohio.

California billionaire Tom Steyer spent millions of dollars to qualify for Tuesday’s debate. The question is whether the former hedge fund manager and first-time candidate is prepared for his first face-off with his Democratic rivals.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has repeatedly turned in warmly received debate performances that did nothing to improve his standing in the polls. Can he shake that pattern tonight?

California Sen. Kamala Harris had one of the strongest nights of her campaign during the first Democratic debate, when she laced into front-runner Joe Biden, but she has failed to replicate the moment.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is making his first major public appearance since suffering a heart attack on the campaign trail this month.

Former Vice President Joe Biden takes the debate stage as he faces a barrage of unsubstantiated attacks from President Trump, whose request to Ukraine that it investigate Biden and his son has sparked a formal impeachment inquiry of Trump.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who continues to surge in the polls, just took on Facebook by deliberately posting an ad with a falsehood about the company, its founder and President Trump to challenge the social media giant’s rules allowing the publication of misinformation.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg may have been previewing his debate strategy in a recent interview when he slashed at Warren over her pledge to forgo big-dollar fundraising, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke over his proposal for a mandatory buyback of assault weapons.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang and his universal basic income proposal continue to poll better than several of his better-known rivals. If debate viewers have to take a shot every time he brings up his proposed $1,000 “freedom dividend,” they will likely be plastered by halftime.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke‘s revamped campaign focuses heavily on guns in the aftermath of mass shootings in El Paso and the Midland-Odessa area. And cursing. Lots and lots of cursing.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been criticizing the proposals of her most liberal rivals as she campaigns in the Midwestern states that she argues she could return to the Democrats’ column if she is their nominee.

Former Housing Secretary Julián Castro recently escorted a group of asylum seekers across a border bridge to Texas from Mexico, where they had been sent under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.

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When the Clippers’ starters lined up for the opening tip Tuesday, Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams were among them.

It was only an intrasquad scrimmage at an open practice held at USC’s Galen Center, but coach Doc Rivers is considering moving the pair from the bench, where they were two of the NBA’s best reserves last season, into the starting lineup at times during the season.

“This summer one of our sales pitches was, we already have our bench, we need a starting lineup,” Rivers said. “Now if you add Paul [George] and Kawhi [Leonard], now we have a starting lineup so maybe we can keep our bench intact.

“Having said that, I will not be surprised if I did use Lou as a starter for some games. Him and Trez, even, because you do still want to keep them together.”

Playing Harrell and Williams together would be nothing new, but doing so with the starters would be a change from the way the Clippers used them as super subs last season. The team outscored opponents by 4.3 points per 100 possessions last season when both Harrell and Williams were on the floor, the seventh-best rating among all Clippers combinations that played at least 500 minutes together.

The NBA’s all-time scoring leader off the bench and a three-time sixth man of the year, Williams started once last season. Harrell did it five times.

One impediment to starting Harrell more often is his 6-foot-8, 240-pound frame that is undersized against most, if not all, starting centers. That discrepancy often led to foul trouble early in his starts, as opponents attempted to back him down from the opening tip. Rivers doesn’t yet have a conclusive answer as to whether Harrell can play physically while fouling less. Rivers is not satisfied with the entire roster’s progress in that department so far.

“That’s something that we just have to get better at,” he said.

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The Clippers’ lineups to begin the season will likely change because George isn’t expected to make his debut until November as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgeries. George took part in three-on-three games before Tuesday’s practice but stayed on the sideline during the full scrimmage. The only other player to sit out the scrimmage was guard Rodney McGruder, who sustained an ankle injury Oct. 8 and is not expected to play Thursday when the Clippers finish their preseason against Dallas in Vancouver.

Upon George’s return, Rivers envisions employing a “sliding” lineup in which only Leonard and George are guaranteed to start.

“We’re gonna try to keep as much shooting on the floor with [Leonard] so teams can’t help,” Rivers said. “We will try to keep one roller on the floor with him so that guy is going down the middle of the paint and he’s creating help. We don’t have to make it that difficult.”

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Only Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic and Utah’s Rudy Gobert scored more points last season than Harrell as the roll man out of pick-and-roll sets, per Synergy Sports. Harrell made nearly 69% of his field goals from those scenarios. Williams ranked fifth in scoring last season among all pick-and-roll ballhandlers.

“You look at a lineup of Paul, Kawhi, Lou, Trez, and we always say ‘pick ‘em’ [for the fifth starter] if you want to be big or small, you could go a lot of different ways,” Rivers said.

Rivers speaks out

Asked again about the tensions between the NBA and China, sparked by Houston general manager Daryl Morey’s Oct. 4 tweet supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, Rivers said Morey “was right in saying that, but there’s consequences to every action, as well. I’ve been saying that.”

Morey’s since-deleted tweet read, “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Through a Clippers spokesman, Rivers later clarified that he was supporting Morey’s right to express himself.

Rivers’ latest foray into the issue came the same day that Hong Kong protesters burned the jersey of Lakers star LeBron James, who had said Monday that Morey was “misinformed” when he sent the tweet.

One minute remained in South Bend, and Fighting Irish defenders stood stacked at the goal line, but Markese Stepp made his intentions clear to his quarterback. He wanted the ball.

“He was fired up,” Kedon Slovis recalled of the USC running back. “The box is loaded, and we gave it to him, anyway.”

In his anticipated return to the state of Indiana, Stepp wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to punch in that score, even if it was ultimately for naught in USC’s loss. But now, with Vavae Malepeai out for the foreseeable future following knee surgery Tuesday, there should be plenty more where that came from.

Stepp is expected to split carries with junior all-purpose back Stephen Carr going forward. But considering Carr’s skill set, it’s likely Stepp takes the lion’s share of work between the tackles and in short yardage. With more than 14 touches per game to replace in Malepeai’s absence, his role could expand substantially.

How those carries will actually be split is to be determined. Neither Carr nor Stepp has carried much of a load in their collegiate careers.

Carr probably will play more in passing situations, but he hasn’t received more than nine carries in any game this year. Only once in three seasons has he had more than 14.

Stepp has double-digit carries in each of his past two games, but he acknowledged he was winded at times Saturday. The extra work, he says, has helped him find a groove over that stretch, as he’s averaging nearly eight yards per rush.

“The more carries any running back gets, the better rhythm they get,” Stepp said.

Establishing that rhythm moving forward will be crucial for an offense that’s turned to the ground more than expected recently as opposing defenses drop eight into coverage on a week-to-week basis. Those light fronts should continue Saturday against Arizona, which could use the extra defensive backs to help bolster a pass defense that ranks 11th in the Pac-12.

As such, offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said the Trojans planned to use Stepp and Carr “just like we did with Carr and Vae early on.” Over the first three games, Malepeai carried the ball 56 times.

“When they’re fresh, we’ve got two pretty special backs playing there,” Harrell said. “If they get a little gassed, we’ll figure it out.”

As far as Stepp is concerned, he can carry the ball more than he has thus far.

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“Whatever the coaches give me, I think I’ll be able to handle it,” Stepp said. “We’re all going to have to step up.”

Injury updates

After returning to health during its week off, USC’s defense gutted through injuries as best it could last week against Notre Dame, as linebacker Palaie Gaoteote and cornerbacks Olaijah Griffin, Isaac Taylor-Stuart, and Greg Johnson all played through pain down the stretch.

None of those four practiced Tuesday, and it’s possible that none will be available when USC takes on Arizona.

Gaoteote is “doubtful” with a high ankle sprain, coach Clay Helton said, and given the lingering nature of the injury, it could keep the linebacker out longer than this week. Without him, Kauni Mauga will step into a significant rotation role.

Greg Johnson, the starter at nickel corner, injured his shoulder against Notre Dame and was ruled out by Helton on Tuesday. He could face an extended absence, as Helton said he “needs time for rehab.”

The status of USC’s two starting outside corners, Griffin and Taylor-Stuart, is less certain. Griffin aggravated the lower back injury and bulging disk that held him out against Washington. Taylor-Stuart has a high ankle sprain, which Helton said was further along than the one suffered by Gaoteote.

USC had some hope that senior captain Jordan Iosefa might return this week to bolster the linebacking corps. But Helton said he expects Iosefa to continue sitting out.

For much of the last week, Todd McLellan has been coaching on the fly.

Such is the reality of the Kings’ early-season schedule, which subjected the team to an awkward seven-day break between the end of the preseason and start of the regular season, then consecutive games twice in the first week.

“We felt like we fell behind, then we felt like we were rushed,” McLellan, the team’s first-year coach, said ahead of the Kings’ game with the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. “In my mind, we’ve played four games with one practice. Tonight will be the fifth still with a single practice.”

The side effects were felt in a 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes at Staples Center.

The Kings started brightly, recording the game’s first eight shots and drawing two early Hurricanes penalties. But they couldn’t take advantage of either. Then, the momentum flipped.

Over a 13-minute stretch between the first and second periods, the Kings went to the box three times. Their penalty kill held serve, offering optimistic signs of improvement after entering the game with a league-worst 56.3% success rate. Jack Campbell made several impressive stops, including an extended left-pad kick save to turn away a close-range chance shot from Jordan Staal.

“Our PK was excellent,” Campbell said. “Guys were sacrificing. We had a meeting today about it, and guys weren’t blinking an eye. They just went straight out and executed. That’s what we need.”

Still, a Hurricanes team that followed its run to last season’s Eastern Conference finals by winning five of its first six games this season tilted the ice. For most of the second period, they zipped the puck around in the Kings’ end. Finally, they broke through.

As winger Ryan Dzingel froze Kings defenders from behind the net, linemate Martin Necas sneaked into the slot uncovered. Dzingel passed the puck through traffic to Necas, who snapped a one-timer into the net.

The Kings didn’t offer much of a response. After tallying 17 shots in the first period, they recorded only three in the second. They squandered a short-lived power-play chance before the second intermission, turning the puck over in the offensive zone twice before a Drew Doughty interference call made it four on four.

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The Kings’ best opportunities in the third period came on the power play. On the first man advantage, with less than six minutes remaining, Dustin Brown had a deflection skip just wide of the post and Sean Walker had a high wrist shot from the middle of the ice turned aside by Petr Mrazek.

Mrazek, who stopped 31 shots, was called into action again in the final minute after Staal was sent to the box for boarding Doughty, who had to leave the game. McLellan said Doughty felt fine after the game.

Walker and Jeff Carter fired pucks at Mrazek in the final moments, but to no avail. With six seconds left, Teuvo Teravainen scored an empty-netter to seal the victory.

“They capitalized on one of our mistakes. We failed to do that on a couple of theirs,” McLellan said. “We didn’t handle [the Hurricanes’ pressure] well. The puck was too far away. We didn’t make clean plays. We didn’t get shots through to the goaltender. They were fronted.”

During the season’s first five games, the rebuilding Kings had been nothing if not entertaining. Before Tuesday, only Toronto and Winnipeg had combined for more goals scored and given up than the Kings, and each had played at least seven games. They were averaging the second-most shots (37.4) and had yet to be involved in a scoreless period.

As the Kings prepared to face the Hurricanes, the expectation was for more of the same.

“We were disappointed in the result,” McLellan said. “But when I look at the game, I thought it was very tightly contested, a battle for every inch.”