Road traffic reports can be daunting around the holidays, so maybe you want to ditch your car and let someone else to do the driving. Trains and buses will be busy during the holidays. Here are tips that can help you get to where you need to go — without the stress.

Trains

Amtrak

Thanksgiving is the only time Amtrak requires reservations on its popular Pacific Surfliner train, which runs between San Diego and San Luis Obispo. You’ll need reservations from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2 — and tickets sell out quickly. Last year, Surfliner saw a 77% increase in ridership on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and a 68% increase on the following Sunday. As a result, the agency has added 26 trains a day on the L.A.-San Diego leg of the journey.

You cannot use Rail2Rail, Metrolink and Coaster commuter rail passes during the reservation dates, but monthly Amtrak and 10-ride passes will be honored. Passengers may take two bags and two personal items on board for free.

Even though there are no airport-style security checkpoints, you are required to carry a photo ID. Amtrak advises passengers to arrive at least 45 minutes before their train departs, especially if they are picking up tickets.

Christmas and New Year’s holidays don’t require reservations, but booking early is a good idea.

Info: Buy tickets at Amtrak.com or on the Amtrak app, at ticket kiosks and stations or by calling (800) 872-7245.

Metrolink

On Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day, Metrolink trains operate on a Sunday schedule. Passengers may buy a $10 holiday discount ticket that’s good throughout the day. Ventura County and Riverside lines and some stations on the Perris Valley Line extension don’t operate on holidays.

Info: Metrolink

Buses

To start your search for bus travel, head to Wanderu, which is like Kayak, an aggregator, but in this case specializing in buses and trains. It provides a comparative list of routes and prices and is free to use.

Megabus

Megabus will take you from Los Angeles to Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco and Las Vegas. (I found L.A.-San Francisco fares of $64 outbound on Nov. 27 and $33 return on Dec. 1). You can pay $2 to $10 extra to reserve a seat during the holiday rush. Seats have power plugs and Wi-Fi; buses depart from and arrive at Patsaouras Bus Plaza at L.A.’s Union Station.

Greyhound

From Los Angeles, Greyhound serves San Diego (for as little as $15 each way), Santa Barbara, San Francisco and other destinations in California and beyond. No assigned seating, but passengers who buy pricier tickets (Economy Extra and Flexible Fares) get to board first. Buses have power plugs and Wi-Fi, and depart and arrive at the L.A. Bus Station, 1716 E. 7th St.

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Tufesabus

From Los Angeles, Tufesabus will take you from downtown L.A. pickup points to Tijuana during the holidays for about $32 each way. Other top routes from the L.A. area include Las Vegas and Phoenix. Buses offer free power plugs and movies.

Ride-hail services

Uber and Lyft

If you’re in love with ride-hail services, be prepared to dig deep in your wallet for more distant destinations. For example, the one-way fare from L.A. to San Diego on Uber is $123 to $145, according to the company’s online fare estimator. On Lyft, fares for the same route start at $159.

Electric vehicle

Tesloop

This company used to offer ride-share service in tricked-out Teslas between L.A. and Palm Springs. It has regrouped and offers one-way Tesla rentals between L.A. and San Diego, starting as low as $49 each way.

Wall Street closed out the week with more milestones Friday as the Dow Jones industrial average surpassed 28,000 points for the first time and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq also set record highs.

Healthcare and technology stocks powered most of the broad rally, which helped drive the S&P 500 to its sixth straight weekly gain. The Dow is on a four-week win streak.

Investors have been encouraged by surprisingly good corporate earnings, three interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and data showing that the U.S. economy is still growing solidly. Hopes that the United States and China can make progress in their latest push for a trade deal have also helped keep investors in a buying mood.

“Over the past week, the market absorbed a number of challenging trade headlines, and it didn’t go down,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “It might just be the case that with positive momentum, after not having had a chance to pull the market down, the bulls stepped in again and said, ‘Let’s keep this thing going.’ ”

The S&P 500 index rose 23.83 points, or 0.8%, to 3,120.46.

The Dow advanced 222.93 points, or 0.8%, to 28,004.89. The Nasdaq composite climbed 61.81 points, or 0.7%, to 8,540.83. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.66 points, or 0.5%, to 1,596.45.

The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq are now all up more than 20% for the year.

Bond prices fell Friday, pushing yields higher, a signal that investors were shifting away from safe-play holdings. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.84% from 1.81%.

Traders hope the world’s two biggest economies can make a deal before new and more damaging tariffs take effect next month. Beijing is pressing Washington to roll back tariffs as part of a potential deal that the nations are trying to hammer out.

Investors mostly shrugged off news reports this week suggesting that trade talks have hit a snag. On Friday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business that it is likely a trade deal will get done, though he said it’s possible that a pact could unravel at the last minute as it did when both sides got close to a deal in May.

A report showing U.S. retail sales rebounded a modest 0.3% in October after falling the previous month also encouraged traders. J.C. Penney surged after it raised its profit forecast.

Healthcare stocks jumped Friday, with insurers getting a boost after the Trump administration officially announced a rule that would require hospitals and other providers to make public the rates for drugs, doctor visits and other services and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren provided details on her Medicare for All plan. Humana climbed 5.5%, UnitedHealth Group rose 5.3%, and Anthem gained 5.6%.

Technology stocks also notched solid gains. Applied Materials jumped 9%, the biggest gain in the S&P 500, after reporting solid quarterly earnings.

Communication services firms also helped lift the market. Google parent Alphabet rose 1.9%, hitting an all-time high.

The materials sector was the only sector to slip. Utilities and makers of household goods posted the smallest gains as investors turned away from less risky, defensive stocks.

Traders bid up shares in several big retailers. J.C. Penney climbed 6.4% after the struggling department store chain reported a smaller quarterly loss and raised its annual profit forecast. Under Armour rose 3.9%. Macy’s gained 3.4%.

Home-furnishings firm RH climbed 7.6%, and energy company Occidental Petroleum gained 2.9% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it had picked up shares of both companies.

Amarin leaped 11.8% after a government advisory panel recommended broader use of its fish oil-based heart disease drug Vascepa.

Benchmark crude oil rose 95 cents to settle at $57.72 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $1.02 to close at $63.30 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents, to $1.64 a gallon. Heating oil climbed 3 cents, to $1.95 a gallon. Natural gas rose 4 cents, to $2.69 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell $4.50, to $1,467.30 an ounce. Silver fell 8 cents, to $16.93 an ounce. Copper rose 2 cents, to $2.64 a pound.

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On a scenic perch in Hidden Hills, Rams wide receiver Brandin Cooks is fielding offers for his modern home. The recently renovated digs have come on the market for $5.8 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service.

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It’ll be a short stay for the former All-American, who bought the place for $5.45 million last year a few months after being traded from the Patriots to the Rams.

Privacy is the story here, as the cul-de-sac estate sits on 2.3 acres with panoramic city views. Behind the single-story home, an entertainer’s backyard offers a redwood deck, swimming pool, spa, outdoor kitchen and fire pit.

Before Cooks bought it, the house had a 1970s vibe with generous doses of wood and brick adorning the living spaces. The remodel brought a much more contemporary feel with chic interiors that open outside through pocketing walls of glass.

Everything’s oversized in the vast open floor plan, from the chandelier-topped dining room with a wet bar to the living room with a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace. Farther in, the sleek kitchen tacks on two islands and splashes of marble.

Other highlights include a game room and a spacious master suite with backyard access. It’s one of four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in 4,850 square feet.

Jordan Cohen of RE/MAX One holds the listing.

A native of Stockton, Cooks was a consensus All-American at Oregon State University before being drafted by the Saints in 2014. In six NFL seasons, he’s caught 387 receptions and 35 touchdowns.

1/5

Actor Paxton Booth plays Ollie Wrather on the Disney Channel series “Coop & Cami Ask the World.” Paxton’s bedroom in his parents’ Ventura home houses all the things he loves. 

(Jesse Goddard / For The Times)

2/5

The bedroom features a mash-up of colors: a red dresser, a fuchsia rug, purple bedding. 

(Jesse Goddard / For The Times)

3/5

His collection of Hot Wheels cars. 

(Jesse Goddard / For The Times)

4/5

More Hot Wheels cars. 

(Jesse Goddard / For The Times)

5/5

Actor Paxton Booth in his room. 

(Jesse Goddard / For The Times)

Unlike most 9-year-olds, Paxton Booth rarely has to be told to clean his room. After playing with his 1,241 (and counting) Hot Wheels cars, the actor scoops them up and neatly parks them on the turquoise-colored shelves around his bedroom.

“I do put them away,” said Paxton, who plays Ollie Wrather on the Disney Channel series “Coop & Cami Ask the World.” “It sounds weird, but I can usually tell you exactly where each car is.”

Paxton’s bedroom, in his parents’ Ventura home, houses all the things he loves — vinyl LPs he finds at swap meets, lanyards from the red-carpet events he attends, his Mickey Mouse ears and a series of newsboy caps. The bedroom features a mash-up of colors — a red dresser, a fuchsia rug, purple bedding.

But it’s the car collection in miniature that defines the room. Paxton started acquiring the Mattel Inc. classic creations when he was 3, when his grandmother handed him some Hot Wheels that used to belong to his father.

“It sparked something,” said Paxton, who also appeared in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” on Fox. “It became a hobby and now it’s an obsession, really.”

Do you spend most of your time in this room?

This house is nearly 100 years old and the rooms are small. But this room has a big loft bed so I have all this room underneath to play. When I’m playing with my cars, I usually make tracks on the ground using my bedding to make bumps. It’s a whole shebang. Sometimes, I’ll just sit on this ladder and look at all my cars.

What else do you like to do in here?

I love to read mystery stories. I’m into “Goosebumps” [the children’s horror novels] and Geronimo Stilton [the reluctant hero-mouse of his own adventure series]. I’m also a big fan of comic books, like Scooby-Doo.

What else is meaningful to you in here?

I have an inspiration board where I put pictures of friends and family. I also cut out a lot of fashion ads to see what’s on trend right now. And I like to keep the lanyards from events I go to. My favorite is from the premiere of “Dumbo” — I’m a fan of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman, and I got to meet them both on the same night. And there’s a snow globe from my trip to Italy with my family.

What in here is most meaningful to you?

I have the original 16-piece set of Hot Wheels, with replicas of what they were like in 1968 when Hot Wheels started. They only made 1,500 of the sets.

Why do you love Hot Wheels so much?

I play with mine differently. I make a story. Every car has its own personality. Some are faster, and others are better in the dirt than on the street. I get lost in the story. It’s like reading a book or acting — you get lost in that story. I have some in their original packaging; they’re super hard to find. You don’t want to open them, but they’re shiny and fun to look at.

Will you keep collecting?

I think the reason I collect is I’m not allowed to have real cars yet. But once I get a big car, I’m still going to be collecting Hot Wheels.

Do you have a favorite?

I’m going to quote [automotive designer] Carroll Shelby, who used to say his favorite was “the next one.” My favorite is going to be the next one.

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This holiday season, most of the Christmas presents Akil McLeod buys for his family members already will have belonged to someone else.

It’s a shopping habit that McLeod, who turns 30 on Christmas Day, has been practicing for nearly a decade. Last year he gave his wife a green leather jacket that he bought at a garage sale. It fit like a glove. Once, he shocked his mom with a vintage Gucci purse.

“She’s been getting those really unique gifts from me and it’s something that you wouldn’t find at a Macy’s,” said McLeod, a former educator who now works full time reselling items on sites such as EBay and Poshmark from his home in Santa Barbara. Of the $100 he plans to spend this season on personal gifts, he estimates 70% will be from secondhand stores, where he says he snags better deals — and enjoys the thrill of the hunt. “Vintage is probably the biggest that it’s ever been,” he said.

McLeod is part of a growing group of consumers who feel comfortable incorporating secondhand items into their holiday shopping list. Once taboo, the pre-owned market is increasingly seen as a savvy way for shoppers to save money, discover harder-to-find items and reduce their carbon footprint in an age of disposable fashion.

Buying secondhand isn’t necessarily the same as committing the unthinkable act of regifting — a term popularized in a 1995 episode of “Seinfeld” as an unwanted label maker gets passed person to person. Nearly half of U.S. consumers said they would consider giving used apparel as a present this year, according to a study from Accenture. Even more said they would enjoy receiving gifts from the resale market.

“Things are changing, especially among young people who try to be sustainable and want to be part of the circular economy,” said Sucharita Kodali, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Those are the ones that are not only going to be purchasing this stuff but going to feel good about buying it as gifts — and introducing friends and family to those brands as well.”

Resale has been growing rapidly across the United States, with the secondhand market forecast to grow to $51 billion by 2023, according to an estimate by online thrift store ThredUp. Given that growth, resale businesses are prepping for what could be their biggest holiday season yet, especially as Americans rev up to spend more than they did last holiday season.

But it’s not just yard sales and corner shops. Even before the holidays, 2019 has been a landmark year for secondhand sellers, especially as the local thrift shop goes corporate. This spring, Neiman Marcus invested in Fashionphile, a pre-owned-goods e-commerce company focused on luxury handbags and accessories. Macy’s Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. both announced in August partnerships with ThredUp. Luxury consignment shop the RealReal Inc. went public in a $300-million offering in June. In addition, venture capital investors have pumped more than $1.1 billion of funding into used-clothing operations over the past several years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

As Black Friday and Christmas approach, resellers are betting the stigma of gifting used goods has fully fizzled. And it’s more than vintage T-shirts and discount scores that might find their way into your stocking.

“Now people are like, ‘Buy me the Gucci on Poshmark,’ ” said Manish Chandra, founder of the resale site. After seeing more users turning to resale for holiday shopping, the site debuted a “gifts market” last year, he said.

At the RealReal’s new Madison Avenue location in Manhattan — surrounded by high-end stores such as Ralph Lauren, Emilio Pucci and Lanvin — the shop has been outfitted for the retailer’s first “Insanely Rare Gift Guide.” It features about 150 items, including a $6,175 Pablo Picasso earthenware hibou pitcher, a $2,750 pair of Louis Vuitton sneakers and a set of three Takashi Murakami skateboard decks going for $3,500. The RealReal’s Hermes expert points to the rarest handbag on the shelves, a limited-edition black Birkin Sellier with palladium hardware that’s listed for $30,000. Signs read: “This holiday season, why settle for a ho-hum present when you can rise to the highest level of gifting genius?”

The RealReal Chief Operating Officer Rati Levesque said the percentage of orders needing gift boxes had tripled this season. Classic high-end items have been the most popular, including Rolex and Cartier watches along with handbags from Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermes. Whatever they’re buying, gift-giving shoppers are making sure to seek out products with less wear and tear than the usual purchase.

Younger consumers are some of the most fervent shoppers latching onto the resale trend. Of Gen Z shoppers — the cohort behind millennials that spans early elementary school through college — 80% said they planned to give thrifted gifts, according to a survey released Thursday by ThredUp. Instead of physical items, some people are even handing out gift cards to thrift shops. Gift card purchases at Thrilling, an e-commerce site that helps mom-and-pop vintage shops expand their digital presence, have risen 200% year over year — and the average balance is $150, according to founder Shilla Kim-Parker.

Grayson Townsend, a 15-year-old from Port Orchard, Wash., spent a recent afternoon while vacationing in New York shopping at Buffalo Exchange, a buyer and seller of used clothing that has been around since the 1970s. She said she didn’t mind giving previously owned gifts to her twin sister and friends. If you go to a traditional retail store, someone’s probably already tried on that pair of jeans, she said, and shoppers aren’t grossed out by that. So what’s the difference?

“I can’t afford Banana Republic or other expensive clothes, but if I buy secondhand, I can buy more stuff and make their presents better,” Townsend said. “There’s something called a washing machine.”

Holman, Moore and Bhasin write for Bloomberg.

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The hype beasts were waiting. Dressed in tie-dyed T-shirts and oversized carpenter pants, in printed hoodies and voluminous shorts, wearing Air Jordan 1s and with arms heavily tattooed, they waited. It was just before 8 a.m. on a cool morning in early November and members of the crowd stood, slumped, leaned or splayed themselves on the cement outside the Long Beach Convention Center waiting to be let inside.

They were waiting for the start of ComplexCon, the two-day festival akin to a Disneyland of streetwear. ComplexCon attracts tens of thousands of guests, counts American Express and Jameson whiskey among its sponsors, and charges anywhere from $60 to $600 for tickets.

For the record:

1:15 PM, Nov. 15, 2019
An earlier version of this story said Isis Arias was the executive director of ComplexCon. Arias is the executive producer of ComplexCon.

This year’s festival included a marketplace, moderated panel discussions with notable tastemakers, musical performances and an alfresco food court of trendy items served from trucks.

Moving beyond print

ComplexCon debuted in 2016 as the event arm of Complex, the media company that started as a magazine in 2002. (The first event in Long Beach included performances by Snoop Dogg, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi and Skrillex.)

Founded by fashion designer Marc Ecko, the magazine covered streetwear culture when it was still relatively underground. Although the magazine no longer exists, the company has expanded its scope to include podcasts, videos and social-media content. This summer there was the launch of ComplexCon in Chicago. So what’s the secret behind the success of ComplexCon?

“There were already trade shows,” said Christian Baesler, president of Complex Networks. “There were already music festivals. There were already food festivals. But we wanted to combine in a way you could only see here.”

“I hope they have the best … time ever,” said Isis Arias, executive producer of ComplexCon, when asked what she hoped attendees felt upon their exit. “It’s not really about what you’re purchasing. It’s about: Did you eat something new? Did you experience something new? Did you learn what a podcast was? Things like that would make me happy.”

For media companies and lifestyle brands like Vogue, GQ and Goop, ComplexCon might provide a road map for finding alternative revenue streams and a lesson in how to stay relevant with millennials.

Although Arias’ primary goal isn’t necessarily the swipe of a credit card, the festival’s vast marketplace is its core. Complex Chief Executive Rich Antoniello told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that $25 million in retail sales were made for vendors last year. This year, he said, organizers expected to surpass that number. (On Wednesday, a representative said retail sales totals for this year haven’t been released.)

Inside the festival

In Long Beach, the convention center floor was filled with setups that ranged from traditional booths to elaborate spectacles. Some brands outdid themselves to assert dominance.

Puma, the event’s official footwear sponsor, built a mini carnival, complete with Skee-Ball and prizes. Reebok and Billionaire Boys Club built a rocket ship outfitted with a DJ and plopped in a martian landscape.

Artist Takashi Murakami, a member of the host committee, erected a faux museum and a ceramics gallery. Old Spice, an event sponsor, created a “shoe spa,” while L.A.-based brand Rhude built a simulacrum of the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

Dylan Johnson, who’s in his early 30s, was waiting in line to buy one of the limited-edition archival pieces from Rhude. “I’ve never been, but my friend comes every year and keeps telling me to come — that it’s great,” he said.

Johnson, who lives in Venice and works at a political consultancy firm, said streetwear is the main influence in the fashion industry. “There’s a status element to it,” he said. “If you have something rare or sought after, it shows you have knowledge about the culture or the industry. Scarcity is a big part of it. Hip-hop and black culture is basically the mainstream culture now.”

The convention floor was a feast for the senses with the smell of marijuana wafting through the halls to the brightly-colored, Instagram bait on sale. Many vendors — the popular store Union, athletic brand Champion, MLB and Complex’s own merchandise — riffed on local sports team logos and styles of the Dodgers and Lakers. Offering limited-edition pieces, labels appeared to whip up frenzied excitement. Hip-hop music served as the event’s de facto soundtrack, and celebrities including Pharrell Williams, who has been involved with the event since its start, and Lil Yachty made the rounds.

Mike Cherman of the brand Chinatown Market got his start at ComplexCon, with a booth at the inaugural edition. Since then his brand has gained popularity in the streetwear scene. Also, Chinatown Market has collaborated with Converse and Puma and dressed the likes of Jay-Z and Wiz Khalifa.

“There’s a change of guard happening,” he said. “[ComplexCon] has gotten bigger. You see more corporate money here now. It’s not the thing it was and it goes to show you that streetwear is now pop culture. It’s mass market. For a lot of people, it can be hard to accept that their ‘thing’ has gotten bigger.”

Business consultancy firm Strategy& (part of PWC) and streetwear website Hypebeast released a report earlier this year that estimated that the global streetwear market was valued at $185 billion and encompassed brands ranging from Nike to Supreme.

Although streetwear had been a niche industry, it has become a fascination for the fashion establishment in recent years. Louis Vuitton collaborated with Supreme, for example, for the fall 2017 season, and brands such as Valentino and Gucci have mirrored streetwear’s stylistic gestures.

One couldn’t help but marvel at the lines snaking around the convention floor as young men and women waited to pay hundreds of dollars for limited-edition merchandise. However, big brands such as Adidas and Nike, which once held prime spots at ComplexCon, pulled out of the festival in recent years. That’s surprising considering Nike appeared to be the most-represented shoe brand on the feet of attendees. (The NikeCraft Mars Yard by Nike and artist Tom Sachs and the Virgil Abloh-designed Air Jordan 1 Retros were popular.)

Although ComplexCon is more glitzy and has more at stake financially, it might look like a funeral for some — the death throes of a subculture becoming part of the establishment. This isn’t anything new. It happened to the rock ’n’ roll, hippie, punk and grunge scenes in decades past.

None of this seemed to matter to Clay Cook, who had paid $225 for an early entrance ticket and waited in line at the Vlone booth where he had hoped to buy a T-shirt or two.

Standing there, Cook, who’s in his early 20s, wore a vintage tee and track pants, a collaboration between Nike and Cactus Flea Market, and was carrying a tote bag that Abloh made for the Swedish furniture brand Ikea. A number of people were carrying the bag, which had been released the day before.

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“It’s just … it’s huge,” Cook said. “The sneaker industry is like this $4-billion-dollar market or something.” He then looked around, taking it all in. “It’s just insane.”

In a conversation with Andy Garcia at the after-party for “Key Largo,” the Oscar-nominated actor spoke of the usual Hollywood struggles to launch new projects. However, this project was different. He was given “an easy ‘yes’” about working on the adapted stage play.

“Sometimes people don’t realize how difficult it is to get projects made,” said Garcia, the play’s co-adapter and coproducer. “I’ve had a blessing in my life. I’ve been able to curate a long career as an actor, but whenever I’ve had personal projects, typically all I’ve ever heard was ‘no.’ So, I really have the Geffen to thank for being so supportive.” (More from Garcia below.)

The event

The opening-night celebration for “Key Largo” at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood took place at Napa Valley Grille on Thursday, offering theater donors and other VIPs a chance to congratulate the cast over cocktails and a late-night supper. The world-premiere production is Garcia’s and playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s updated version of the original 1939 play by Maxwell Anderson and the 1948 film classic starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Edward G. Robinson.

The play

As a hurricane slams into the Florida Keys, a World War II veteran arrives at a local hotel to pay his respects to the widow of a fallen soldier. He finds a mobster and his gang holed up there, about to complete a drug deal. Setting the mood, the play features original music by Arturo Sandoval.

The scene

As partygoers lined up at the buffet tables, Garcia entered to applause and warm greetings from the play’s coproducer Frank Mancuso, seated with his wife, Fay, as well as his family members and friends. The cast then gathered against the official backdrop for photos as guests crowded in for cellphone shots.

The crowd

Among 450 guests celebrating along with Garcia, Hatcher, Mancuso and director Doug Hughes were cast members Joely Fisher, Danny Pino, Tony Plana, Rose McIver, Bradley Snedeker, Louis Mustillo, Richard Riehle and Stephen Borrello, plus actors Joe Pesci, Beau Bridges, French Stewart, Vanessa Claire Stewart and Richard Kind.

The quotes

Kind called the play “terse and fast-moving,” and the writing “smart, not jokey, but funny. You don’t find things like this so much anymore — old-fashioned melodrama.”

“I am ‘pinch-me lucky’ to have this role,” said Fisher, who plays Garcia’s alcoholic girlfriend. Although admitting to feeling “a little bit scared” of following Claire Trevor’s Oscar-winning performance in the film, she said, “I’ve tried to stay away from the film but not because of the comparison. … It’s just that I wanted to find [the character] myself. She’s obviously hitched herself to the wrong post but she is hopeful, searching. … I feel like she’s kind of Patient Zero of the #MeToo movement.”

Garcia said he’d seen the movie many years ago “and it became a movie I really admired. So, when I saw it was based on a play, I read the play and immediately thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to put it back on the stage?’ But then, I figured, ‘Well, it’s just an idea.’”

After staging a concert at the Geffen, however, playing piano and percussion and singing with his 13-piece Cuban orchestra, the Cineson All-Stars, Garcia mentioned the idea to the theater’s executive director, Gil Cates Jr., and artistic director, Matt Shakman. “Instead of saying ‘no,’” he recalled, “they said, ‘When can you start?’ So I thought, ‘OK, here’s a ‘yes,’ and now it’s up to me to deliver. … And there you have it.”

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SEOUL — 

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday pressed Washington’s case that longtime ally South Korea must pay a bigger share of the cost of having U.S. troops on its soil.

“This is a very strong alliance we have, but Korea is a wealthy country and could and should pay more to help offset the cost of defense,” Esper told a joint news conference with his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo.

Esper said that, while South Korea has provided “a fair amount of support in the past,” it is important to point out that “most of that money stays here in this country — easily over 90% of that money stays here in Korea, it does not go to the United States.”

The amount South Korea pays for the presence of about 28,000 U.S. troops has varied over the years. This year it is nearly $1 billion.

South Korean news reports have said the Trump administration is demanding a fivefold increase in South Korean contributions, to about $4.7 billion for 2020, although Jeong declined to confirm the figure. He said his country was prepared to pay a “fair and reasonable” amount.

In remarks to reporters Wednesday as he was flying to Seoul, Esper declined to cite a figure but said the administration has asked for a “substantial increase” in South Korea’s contributions.

At Friday’s news conference, Esper said American demands for a more favorable sharing of defense costs applies not only to South Korea but also to allies and partners across the globe. President Trump has long accused American allies in Europe and Asia of being freeloaders and questioned why the U.S. is still helping to defend them.

Negotiations with Seoul over cost-sharing for 2020 is one of several major irritants in the alliance, which dates to the 1950-53 Korean War when the U.S. and other nations intervened after North Korea invaded the South.

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MEXICO CITY — 

Bolivia’s Evo Morales called for the United Nations, and possibly Pope Francis, to mediate in the Andean nation’s political crisis following his ouster as president in what he called a coup d’etat that forced him into exile in Mexico.

Morales said in an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday in Mexico City that he is still the president of Bolivia since the country’s Legislative Assembly has not yet accepted his resignation, which he presented Sunday at the urging of military leaders following weeks of protests against a reelection that his opponents called fraudulent.

“The Assembly has to reject or approve the resignation,” which it has not done, said the man who ruled Bolivia for almost 14 years as its first indigenous president. “If they don’t approve or reject it, I can say that I am still president.”

Morales submitted his resignation to Congress as specified by the constitution, although he and his supporters say it was forced by the military and should have required a vote by the Senate on whether to accept it. His critics say the constitution makes no mention of such a vote.

Morales said he would return to Bolivia from Mexico, which has granted him political asylum.

However, Bolivia’s interim leader said in La Paz, the seat of government, on Friday that Morales will face possible legal charges for election fraud if he returns home.

“He knows he has accounts pending with justice. He can return but he has to answer to justice for electoral fraud,” self-appointed interim President Jeanine Añez said.

Political analyst Kathryn Ledebur of the nonprofit Andean Information Network in Bolivia, who has lived in the country for nearly 30 years, said Morales could have a case in saying his resignation is invalid.

“A resignation letter has to be presented and considered, and accepted in the plenary before it goes into effect,” she said. “Do I think that Evo wants to return and be president? I don’t see that. But does he want to mess with them? Yes. He wants to keep them guessing.”

Two days after arriving in Mexico, Morales told the Associated Press he has received information that some Bolivian army troops are planning to “rebel” against the officers who urged him to resign. But he gave no further specifics on how many were in on the plan, or how they would rebel.

Morales said he was “surprised by the betrayal of the commander in chief of the armed forces,” Gen. Williams Kaliman.

He called for calm and dialogue in Bolivia.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday he is sending Jean Arnault, a personal envoy, to Bolivia to support efforts to find a peaceful solution to the nation’s crisis.

“I have a lot of confidence in the U.N.,” Morales said. But he noted he wants the world body “to be a mediator, not just a facilitator, perhaps accompanied by the Catholic Church, and if Pope Francis is needed, we should add him.”

He said the United States was the “great conspirator” behind what he called the coup d’etat that forced him from Bolivia. Morales has long had a tense relationship with Washington and in 2008 expelled U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials from Bolivia.

Añez, the interim leader, has been recognized by some countries, but faces an uphill battle in organizing new elections.

According to the constitution, an interim president has 90 days to organize an election. The disputed accession of Añez, who until Tuesday was second vice president of the Senate, was an example of the long list of obstacles she faces. Morales’ backers, who hold a two-thirds majority in Congress, boycotted the session she called Tuesday night to formalize her claim to the presidency, preventing a quorum.

Late Thursday, legislators with Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, and Añez were working on an agreement for new elections that would help resolve the crisis. The deal would make Eva Copa Murga the Senate president with the backing of legislators from Añez’s Democratic Unity party.

“It’s a historic agreement to pacify the country,” Copa Murga said. But other legislators said a deal had not yet been reached.

Meanwhile, Morales’ backers on Thursday demonstrated for his return from asylum in Mexico.

They had come overnight from Chapare, a coca-growing region where Morales became a prominent union leader before he became president. Soldiers blocked them from reaching the nearby city of Cochabamba, where Morales’ supporters and foes have clashed for weeks.

Morales’ resignation followed nationwide protests over suspected vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 election in which he claimed to have won a fourth term in office. An Organization of American States audit of the vote found widespread irregularities. Morales denies there was fraud.

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Much of the opposition to Morales sprang from his refusal to accept a referendum that would have forbidden him from running for a new term.

Añez was moving to establish authority in the turbulent country. She announced that Morales could not participate in elections but his MAS party could.

Morales upended politics in this nation long ruled by light-skinned descendants of Europeans by reversing deep-rooted inequality. The economy benefited from a boom in prices of commodities, and he ushered through a new constitution that created a new Congress with seats reserved for Bolivia’s smaller indigenous groups while also allowing self-rule for all indigenous communities.

Although some supporters became disenchanted by his insistence on holding on to power, Morales remains popular, especially among members of his native Aymara ethnic group.

Click:辦公室出租
HOUSTON  — 

Texas’ top criminal appeals court on Friday halted the scheduled execution of inmate Rodney Reed, whose conviction is being questioned by new evidence that his supporters say raises serious doubt about his guilt.

The stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals came just hours after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had recommended delaying the lethal injection.

Reed, 51, had been set for lethal injection Wednesday evening for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. Prosecutors say Reed raped and strangled Stites as she made her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, a rural community about 30 miles southeast of Austin.

Reed’s efforts to stop his execution have received support from such celebrities as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey. Lawmakers from both parties, including Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, have also asked that officials take a closer look at the evidence in the case.

In its four-page order, the appeals court said Reed’s case should be returned to the trial court in Bastrop County so it could examine his claims that he is innocent and that prosecutors suppressed evidence and presented false testimony.

Bryce Benjet, an attorney with the Innocence Project, which is representing Reed, said defense attorneys were “extremely relieved and thankful” to the appeals court.

“This opportunity will allow for proper consideration of the powerful and mounting new evidence of Mr. Reed’s innocence,” Benjet said in a statement.

The Texas attorney general’s office declined to comment Friday on whether it would appeal the order staying Reed’s execution.

Earlier Friday, the parole board had unanimously recommended a 120-day reprieve for Reed. The board rejected Reed’s request to commute his sentence to life in prison.

The parole board’s decision was to go next to Gov. Greg Abbott, who hasn’t said whether he would accept or reject it or do nothing.

The stay probably makes Abbott’s decision moot. Since taking office in 2015, Abbott has halted only one imminent execution, in 2018.

Since Texas resumed executions in 1982, only three death row inmates have had their sentences commuted to life in prison by a governor within days of their scheduled executions.

Reed has other appeals pending, including with the U.S. Supreme Court. His supporters have held rallies, including an overnight vigil Thursday in front of the Supreme Court in Washington. It was unclear whether a rally planned for Sunday in front of the Texas governor’s mansion would still take place.

Reed has long maintained he didn’t kill Stites and that her fiance, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the real killer. Reed says Fennell was angry because Stites, who was white, was having an affair with Reed, who is black.

Fennell’s attorney has said his client didn’t kill Stites. Fennell was paroled last year after serving time in prison for sexual assault.

In their most recent motion to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Reed’s lawyers alleged prosecutors suppressed evidence or presented false evidence related to Fennell.

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Prosecutors say Reed’s semen was found in the victim, his claims of an affair with Stites were not proved at trial, Fennell was cleared as a suspect and Reed had a history of committing other sexual assaults.

Reed’s lawyers say his conviction was based on flawed evidence. They have denied the other sexual assault accusations made by prosecutors.

Reed’s attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in August to compel DNA testing of crime scene evidence, including the believed murder weapon. His lawyers say the testing, which has been fought for years by prosecutors, could identify someone else as the murderer. The lawsuit is still pending.

In recent weeks, Reed’s attorneys have presented affidavits in support of his claims of innocence, including one by a former inmate who says Fennell bragged about killing Stites and referred to Reed by a racial slur. Reed’s lawyers say other recent affidavits corroborate the relationship between Stites and Reed and show Fennell was violent and aggressive toward her.