The LAPD is considering whether to shut down its police academy for part of 2028 in order to put hundreds of officers back to work on the streets in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to four department sources.

The sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal matters, said the proposal was floated at a senior staff meeting last week. The idea has sparked debate, the sources said, with some officials worried that a pause would set back the department’s efforts to hire more police officers and replenish its dwindling ranks.

The LAPD declined to make any official available for an interview about the proposal. In response to an inquiry from The Times, the department released a short statement that said: “The Olympic Games are two years away. The LAPD will be prepared as always to keep the citizens and visitors of Los Angeles safe. We look forward to a memorable event.”

Much could still change between now and the start of the Olympics. The size of recruit classes are dictated by the department’s annual budget, which is approved by the City Council before each fiscal year.

Recently, the council signed off on a $15-billion city budget for 2026-27, preserving Mayor Karen Bass’ plan to hire 510 officers — only enough cops to replace those who are expected to leave over the next fiscal year.

It’s not uncommon during large events for the department to mobilize officers from specialized units and others who don’t normally work in the field. But the potential cancellation of more than half of the 13 academy classes that the LAPD typically graduates in a given year came as a surprise to some.

Under the proposal, the academy could cease operations for roughly seven months after the January 2028 class, which would let the department temporarily reassign more than 300 officers from its training division. These include instructors who would normally be spending their days teaching the basics of how to handle firearms, pull over speeding motorists, collect evidence at a crime scene and interview victims and suspects.

Sources said the proposed plan calls for increasing academy class sizes before and after the Olympics and Paralympics in order to offset resignations and retirements.

The plan has still been met with deep skepticism in some quarters, with officials pointing to the department’s well-documented recruitment struggles in recent years. Any interruptions in recruiting officers could set the department back, the skeptics argue.

L.A. City Councilmember Tim McOsker said he understood the need for the department to continue its recruitment efforts, but said that putting training officers back to the field felt like a necessary “sacrifice to be able to host the Olympics.”

Late last month, L.A. officials reached a tentative deal with Olympic organizers laying out the process for reimbursing the city for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for public services, ranging from traffic control to trash pickup. But the question of how the city will pay for police protection remains largely unsettled.

The costs could theoretically be covered by the $1 billion in funding the federal government has allocated for the Games’ costs. However, some elected officials have expressed concern that the money might not materialize once the Games are over. Another funding option is a $270-million contingency fund maintained by LA28 that can be distributed as a surplus if the Games make money or be used to cover any losses in the event of a shortfall.

For months, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that public safety will suffer if the city doesn’t hire more officers to not only safeguard Olympic venues, but also continue normal operations over the 66 days between the July 14 start of the Olympic Games and the end of the Paralympic Games. At a budget hearing last year, McDonnell called on the council to fund new hires — while arguing against creating any delays in recruiting and on-boarding more officers.

Some City Council members have pushed back, saying overspending at the LAPD could force city leaders to contemplate cuts to other city jobs, which they oppose.

The Olympics will also be staffed by thousands of officers from agencies from across the state. A bill currently under consideration in the California Legislature would pave the way for the hundreds of officers from other states to help police the 2028 Games. The proposed legislation is opposed by the Peace Officers Research Association of California, the state’s largest law enforcement labor organization, which has argued that bringing in officers who don’t meet statewide training standards could spell disaster.

Pro wrestling is often known for its storyline-driven entertainment coupled with hard-hitting and high-flying action in the ring that leads to a crescendo that makes fans feel some kind of emotion. The major companies each try to drive to that moment.

Sometimes, a unique venue adds to the excitement of a show, especially for smaller independent pro wrestling companies who are trying to engage an audience for a few hours at a time. On July 14, Fight Factory Wrestling is going back to the beach for The War on the Shore 3.

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The event will take place near Martell’s Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, bringing professional wrestling to the beach. Joey Janela, Ben Bishop, Jack Vaughn, Richard Holliday, Steve Maclin, Jay Lethal, Sent 2 Slauter, Lady Frost, Allie Katch, Steph De Lander and others are among those billed to be in matches for the event.

Dave Sturchio, one of the minds behind Fight Factory Wrestling with Chris Payne, talked to Fox News Digital about getting started in the sport. He said him and Payne initially got started wrestling in 2012 but as time went on, the two went their own way. The two came back together in 2024 to do the “Fight Factory Podcast.” He said Payne had aspirations to do a wrestling show on the beach – akin to World Championship Wrestling’s Bash at the Beach.

Sturchio said he called Payne to follow through on doing a beach show despite some apprehension about getting involved into the creative side of the sport. Sturchio said when he first approached the venue about the event, there was a little hesitation, but when he came back with a plan, the venue agreed.

“As the buzz started to develop and build over prepping for the show, I said to Payne, ‘I don’t know if this is a one off. I think that we have something here,’” Sturchio said. “And Payne and I, we’ve been in the industry since 2012, we’re life-long fans, I’m already an entrepreneur at heart, so how can I take my entrepreneurial stuff for the last three-four years of being my own boss, how do I spin this into becoming a pro wrestling promoter?”

Sturchio said that teaming with Payne allowed for the stars to align and to give each other a shot at building something great. He said the response from the first War on the Shore in 2024 was “overwhelming.”

“We were like, this is actually kind of crazy. People are actually jones-ing for some wrestling in the summer. Typically, when you go to a VFW or your gymnasiums, independent wrestling kind of takes off and they don’t run as much in the summer because it’s hot. So, I said, if anything, nobody is going to run against us and unfortunately for us, we were put on a Tuesday night and we were like, ‘Jesus Christ, there’s no way anybody is going to show up on a Tuesday.’

“Turns out, nobody is really doing anything on a Tuesday. It was very easy to book the wrestlers in that regard because nobody else had anything going on. … First year was great. I think the best testament that we got was we booked Matt Cardona to be one of our featured guests on the first one and that’s when he tore his pec. So, he was out of action for a little while but he promised us that he would still show up.”

Sturchio said Cardona was blown away and thought he and Payne had been running shows for a while.

“If you’re going to blow away Matt Cardona, I think we got something. It was off to the races, man,” he added.

Now, Sturchio and Payne are set to put on their third War on the Shore in New Jersey and the card couldn’t be more interesting.

“This year, we really stacked the deck,” he told Fox News Digital. “Some professional wrestling shows you go to on the independents, there are those lulls. Matches where you’re like, ‘Oh, they’re giving this guy a chance over here and they’re gonna give this guy a chance over there.’

“This year, I told Payne, look, based off of everybody that we’ve booked so far, for me, and some independent wrestlers don’t want to hear this, we’re trying to build a roster, build a core roster. Meaning, if we used you before and you’ve done good work, we’re gonna use you again. Instead of saying, hey, random guy over here, who I don’t know who you are, but let’s give you a shot. So we’re trying to build stories and there are a lot of stories that are culminating.”

Sturchio pointed to a number of matches that fans should be eager to see. One specifically is the reformation of The Heavenly Bodies tag team with Justin and Mark Corino.

“Those guys are reuniting for the first time in seven years,” he said. “They’re friends of mine, I came up with them. They were my first tag team opponents and I’ve known these guys forever and they’re near and dear to my heart.”

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Lady Frost will be in action against De Lander and Katch. Bishop defends the Fight Factory Premier Championship against Holliday and Vaughn. Janela will take on Jay Lethal for the first time ever and the event will feature a rumble and a tiki totem on a pole, which will act as Fight Factory Wrestling’s “Money in the Bank” type of gimmick.

“The card is stacked. I’m very excited about all of it. There’s not one lull,” Sturchio said. “We’re just going to roll right through and I think it’s going to be one of those nights that we remember for a very, very long time.”

Everyone knew going in that Lionel Messi would be the narrative centerpiece of the 2026 World Cup. Easily the most recognized name in the competition, Messi is considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time and, as the captain of 2022 winner Argentina, he is the reigning World Cup champ. At 18, he scored his first World Cup goal in 2006 and has competed in every World Cup since. He celebrated his 39th birthday before this year’s knockout rounds began, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that this will be his last.

No matter what Messi did, or failed to do, it would be News. Everyone with even a passing interest in the event knew this. Including me.

But I didn’t expect to completely fall for the guy. He’s a professional male athlete, for heaven’s sake, and I don’t emotionally invest in professional male athletes. Admire some of them, sure; watch with bated breath and then scream in astonishment when they pull off some amazing feat or another, absolutely. But the only athletes that have ever touched my heart have been women — Nadia Comăneci; Billie Jean King and the Title IX-sparking stars of women’s tennis; Dorothy Hamill; Brandi Chastain and 1999 Women’s World Cup winners; Venus and Serena Williams; Simone Biles; Caitlin Clark.

But here I am, at age 62, truly, madly, deeply in love with Lionel Messi.

I know, I know, me and half the world. Which normally would serve as an effective prophylactic. I am habitually wary of super-intense fandoms and the men who inspire them; stadiums filled with people chanting a single name inevitably set off internal alarm bells. As I have asked several times in columns throughout the years, how many “heroes” must we watch falter under pressure or be exposed for decidedly unheroic acts before we wise up and get out of the pedestal-placement business?

Yet here I am, stalking him on Instagram, up all hours flicking through interviews and career highlight clips. (I even watched the Apple TV docuseries “Messi Meets America”!) Here I am, literally praying to God, who clearly has more important things to do, for Argentina to advance and screaming Messi’s name every time he scores, assists or pretty much does anything at all.

In a matter of weeks, I have become addicted not just to watching the man play but seeing how he reacts when a shot is made or a game won.

Every World Cup player is happy when they or their team scores, but Messi is delighted. Like a kid seeing a puppy under the tree on Christmas morning. Like he cannot believe this wonderful thing that has just happened even if he was the one who sweat and ran and defied physics to make it happen.

His smile is infectious and even when he is running toward the stands, arms spread wide, after making some impossible shot or other, it never seems self-congratulatory. He is simply filled with joy and wants to spread it around. The field, the stadium, the world.

And his hugs. Long, deep, radiating emotion, utterly unself-conscious. Everyone needs to find someone who hugs them like Messi hugs people — teammates, coaches, opposing players, young fans. I could watch videos of him hugging his mentor and former teammate Ronaldinho or Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni all day long. (I’m not saying I have, nor am I saying I haven’t.)

Sometimes the hype gets a bit nauseating — former teammates who claim he never makes a mistake, commentators who refer to him as superhuman (despite the fact that he has missed as many penalty kicks as he has made in this World Cup). Whether Messi himself agrees that he is the GOAT is none of my business, but he doesn’t act like many sports stars who have received similar adulation. He doesn’t peacock, he doesn’t preen; he is visibly angry with himself when he doesn’t produce. He isn’t perfect — in various past games, he has gotten into heated disputes and shoving matches and famously (and many believe deservedly) taunted Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal during World Cup 2022. But for a man who has been such a star for so long, he presents himself as simply a player among players. The captain, certainly, but not the most important person on the field.

That is the most lovable, and superhuman, thing about him.

It feels pretty basic, not to mention embarrassing, to have a sudden summer crush on Messi, but I don’t care. He’s married to his childhood sweetheart, has three adorable sons and a picture of his mother tattooed on his back. He lets his teammates hoist him in the air and allows sports commentators to regularly (and lovingly) refer to him as “Little Messi.” He gets angry sometimes, but in this tournament he has yet to noticeably hector the refs or rumble with his opponents. He wants to win, obviously, but his joy comes from playing the game well rather than defeating another team.

That’s why, despite my newfound addiction to Messi delight, the moment I loved him best was when he didn’t celebrate at all. In the round of 32, Argentina (No. 2 in FIFA rankings) seemed guaranteed a win over Cape Verde (67). But even with Messi’s early goal, the game was a nail-biter, with Cape Verde scoring two brilliant goals while their goalie Vozinha made eight saves, including four shots (one of them a free kick) from Messi. After Argentina won in additional playing time, there was none of the usual jubilation. Instead, a subdued Messi walked to the midfield to shake hands with his opponents, a sign of exhaustion, no doubt, but also of respect. He hugged Vozinha and told him that his country should be proud of him.

The exuberance was back Tuesday, however, when, after trailing Egypt for most of the round of 16 game, Argentina managed to pull off the comeback of the tournament, going from a 0-2 deficit to a 3-2 win after the 79th minute, with Messi scoring the tying goal.

This time, the smiles, the hugs, the radiant joy filling Atlanta Stadium could have powered the entire state of Georgia. This time, Messi was so happy, he wept.

So did I. The World Cup is over in less than two weeks, and France and Spain are currently the 1-2 favorites to win the thing. My love for Messi is, after all, just a summer romance.

And as with any summer romance, I want it to last forever.