THOUSAND OAKS — Robert Woods said he was happy to see fellow wide receiver Cooper Kupp sign a rich contract extension with the Rams last week. But there was a catch.

It made Woods, the Rams’ most underpaid player, even more eager to work out a new deal of his own.

Thursday, the player and the team sounded close to getting that done.

Woods, the former Serra High (Gardena) and USC star, said he hopes to sign an extension as early as Friday, or at least before the Rams (1-0) play their second game of the season Sunday on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles (0-1).

“Just trying to get it done and out of the way and focus on the season,” said Woods, saying Rams coach Sean McVay “kind of reassured me that a deal would be getting done this week.”

“I know they finished up with Co...

Our politics may be paranoid, our society paralyzed by pandemic, and our skies ablaze, but don’t fear! We Californians receive an avalanche of advice about how to behave in crisis. All we have to do is follow it. Easy-peasy, no?

For starters, go outside. Avoid the indoors, because COVID spreads best in enclosed areas. The outdoors is good for your health.

Also, don’t go outside. Don’t you know there’s a pandemic on? Plus, with so many fires burning, you’ll just be breathing smoke. The outdoors now is bad for your health.

Instead, see family right now. Particularly if they are elderly or in a facility. Because loneliness is the biggest killer right now.

One caveat: don’t see your family. Public health officials say family gatherings are where the virus spreads...

Are gig workers ⁠— think Uber drivers or Door Dashers ⁠— seeking to trade their flexible occupations for a full-time, 40-hour-week job?

Two recent surveys suggest they’re not interested. A survey of 1,000 on-demand drivers, commissioned by Uber and conducted by a duo of polling firms representing clients on the political left and right, finds that 85 percent prefer some version of their current flexible arrangement. Another survey ⁠— this one of 1,000 independent contractors, and commissioned by Lyft ⁠— concluded that 71 percent want to retain their current status.

Both surveys suggest that workers are happy with their “gig.” Don’t tell that to labor unions and their allies...

The first sign that it wasn’t going to be the Sparks’ night came just before tipoff.

Los Angeles was set to play the Connecticut Sun in the win-or-go-home second round of the WNBA playoffs, when it was announced that Sparks power forward Nneka Ogwumike would not play due to a migraine.

But losing the former MVP was just the start of an excruciating evening for the Sparks, who lost to the Sun 73-59 to end their postseason run before it could truly begin.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — At this point, the Denver Nuggets aren’t going to catch anyone off guard. And they don’t expect to.

After watching film of the Lakers on Thursday afternoon, Nikola Jokic — one of the engines of Denver’s pair of historic 3-1 comebacks — came away with the impression that the top-seeded Lakers are just as serious and driven as his Nuggets have been in the last month.

“I think they’re really focused,” Jokic said. “You can just see how they’re playing. Even the Portland series, the Houston series, they are really locked in. They will not take us for granted.”

Spaced just a few hundred feet away in neighboring ballrooms at the Coronado Springs Resort, the Lakers and Nuggets prepared for the most unusual Western Conference Finals the NBA has eve...

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — In the middle of the Lakers’ biggest win so far this postseason, Anthony Davis was struggling.

It was hard to tell from the 6-foot-10 forward’s body language that his team was blowing out the Houston Rockets in Game 5. He hung his head. He slumped his shoulders. As he shuffled to the bench during a timeout in the third quarter, he brushed past several open palms of his teammates, who looked at him with concern.

Davis was in the midst of what would be a 4-for-9 night from the field with six turnovers, a frustrating slog that took him nearly a half to score a basket at all. Even when ahead, the 27-year-old has a way of letting tough games get to him.

“When I’m playing, I’m a perfectionist,” Davis told Southern California News Group...

Donors pledged over $530,000 as of Thursday, Sept. 17, in exchange for information leading to whoever shot two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies in Compton, while more than $800,000 has been donated to fund the patients’ recoveries.

One of the two wounded deputies was released from the hospital Wednesday, while the other remained at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. They were both shot multiple times while parked in a patrol vehicle at the Metro Blue Line station on Saturday.

We at @LASDHQ appreciate the outpouring of prayers and support you have shown for our ambushed deputies.

Great news, one of those deputies was released from the hospital today. He has a long road ahead for recovery. But he’s not alone. We, as a community, are in this together.

— Alex Villanueva (@LACo...

In 1975 Joe Brainard published “I Remember,” a slim book of paragraph-long personal recollections, each beginning with the title phrase. A day shy of the six-month anniversary of California’s stay-at-home order, and with respects to Brainard, who died in 1994, I’m adapting the form today.

I remember routinely shaking hands and rarely worrying much where the other person’s hand had been. In retrospect, that was probably a mistake.

I remember how my friend John, and my friend Pat, would shake hands in conversation every few minutes, almost as punctuation. I feel for them.

I remember hugs. I rarely initiated them but, if the other person offered, I accepted. I feel for the world’s huggers — from a safe distance.

I remember city council meetings...

Pasadena will likely order full-scale samples of three different suicide-prevention barriers, which the city will install across parts of the Colorado Street Bridge for the public to see in-person before one of the designs becomes a permanent fixture across the entirety of the bridge.

The $160,210 purchase from Chastworth-based Custom Design Iron Works, Inc. was approved by the city’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 16, and heads to the council for final approval, expected to pass on Monday, Sept. 21.

Out of a handful of designs reviewed by city officials and members of the public late last year, two leading candidates emerged...