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The nominations for the 2026 BET Awards were released on Tuesday morning, and Cardi B is in the lead with six nominations.

Her nominations include: The Fashion Vanguard Award, Best Collaboration (for “Errtime Remix” featuring Jeezy and Latto), Best Female Hip Hop Artist, Video Director of the Year with Patientce Foster, Album of the Year for “Am I the Drama?” and Viewers’ Choice for her song “Outside.”

Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar and singer Mariah the Scientist are tied with five nods, while Doechii, Doja Cat, Clipse, Teyana Taylor, Olivia Dean and Latto have racked up four each. 

A$AP Rocky, Bruno Mars, Bryson Tiller, Chris Brown, Jill Scott, Kehlani, Metro Boomin, SZA, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, T.I. and YK Niece each received three.

This year’s awards show will feature two new categories: the Fashion Vanguard Award and Pulse Award.

“The Fashion Vanguard Award will recognize a global figure whose fashion presence has had long-standing cultural impact, has significantly influenced style narratives, and continues to elevate fashion as a form of storytelling across music, film, sports, and public life,” organizers explained. “This year’s nominees include: A$AP Rocky, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Cardi B, Colman Domingo, Doechii, Rihanna, Teyana Taylor and Zendaya.”

In the meantime, the Pulse Award “will recognize a creator, campaign, or content series that most powerfully moved Black culture forward in digital spaces by sparking conversation, building community, and defining the moment online. his award celebrates the intersection of creativity, authenticity, and cultural impact across social media, streaming, podcasting, and beyond.”

The nominees in the category are “85 South Show,” “Baby, This Is Keke Palmer,” Charlamagne Tha God, Don Lemon, Druski, “It Is What It Is, Joe and Jada,” “On the Radar” and “R&B Money Podcast.”

“All of our nominees represent the very best of Black culture across music, film, sports, and beyond, and with the introduction of the Fashion Vanguard Award and the Pulse Award, we’re proud to honor even more of the ways our culture continues to show up and evolve,” said executive vice president of, Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy at BET, Connie Orlando.

Comedian and internet personality Druski will host the ceremony this year, making him the youngest-ever host of the awards.

The BET Awards will air June 28, at 8 p.m. PST on BET and be simulcast on BET HER, CMT, LOGO, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon (NAN), Paramount, POP, VH1, Comedy Central, and TV Land. It will take place at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles.

The ceremony comes amid the three-day immersive BET Experience 2026, which runs from June 25-27 and features fan-focused events.

Voting for the awards is set to open soon.

The Simi Valley Unified School District announced that all campuses will be closed Tuesday as the Sandy Fire burning in the Simi Hills has nearly doubled in size as of Monday evening.

The statement comes after multiple schools located in the foothills just north of the Sandy Fire were evacuated due to the wildfire Monday.

Simi Valley Unified initially released a statement saying all students were safe, but being kept indoors due to poor air quality caused by the fire. Sky5’s Rich Pricket reported that there was a long line of parents waiting to pick up their children at Hillside Middle School at 12:45 p.m. 

At around 2 p.m. Monday, all students still present at Crestview Elementary School and Mountain View Elementary School were evacuated by bus to Simi Valley High School at 5400 Cochran Street.

“Many students had already been picked up by their families before the remaining were bused to Simi Valley High School,” a statement on the Simi Valley Unified School District website reads. “All families were notified.”

All seventh-period classes and afterschool events were also canceled at Hillside Middle School and Royal High School. These schools were not evacuated.

The school district took part in a meeting Monday afternoon, which included officials from the Simi Valley Police Department, Rancho Simi Recreation and Parks District, the County of Ventura, and the Ventura County Fire Department. At the meeting, officials decided to cancel all classes tomorrow “out of an abundance of caution,” Simi Valley Unified School District Superintendent Hani Youssef said.

“With the knowledge that so many of our families are directly impacted by the Sandy Fire, ALL Simi Valley Unified School District schools and campuses will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19, for most staff and all students,” Youssef’s statement reads. “Only key leadership staff will be contacted to report to work for varied assignments. We hope that by providing this early information, our families will be able to make appropriate arrangements for childcare tomorrow.”

The closures include all on-campus afterschool programs. The school district will make a decision tomorrow whether or not classes will resume Wednesday.

As of 7:30 p.m. Monday, the Sandy Fire is 1,364 acres in size. The fire remains uncontained. More than 28,000 Simi Valley residents are under evacuation order due to the fire.

Santa Monica Police Department officers took a kidnapping suspect into custody following a pursuit and officer-involved shooting early Monday morning, officials confirmed.  

The incident began around 3:15 a.m. when SMPD personnel located a suspect wanted in connection with an ongoing kidnapping investigation. Authorities did not disclose where exactly the suspect was located but they did say the suspect was found somewhere in Los Angeles. 

The suspect fled the area in a vehicle after being located by police and led them on a chase that eventually terminated in the 900 block of West 85^th Street in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood, police said. 

Upon the pursuit ending, an officer-involved shooting occurred, Santa Monica police said. 

The suspect, who was not struck, was taken into custody, authorities added, further elaborating that no officers were injured.  

“The adult victim had already been contacted by law enforcement and was not present during the pursuit or officer-involved shooting,” police said. 

No further details regarding the ongoing investigation, including the suspect’s name, were released right away.

Alberto Mendez contributed to this report.