LOS ANGELES (AP) — With the 2028 Olympics Games in Los Angeles on the horizon, fans will get their first opportunity to get in line for tickets on Wednesday.

Registration will open Jan. 14 to be entered into the ticket draw for a randomly assigned time slot to purchase tickets.

Here’s what to know:

When do the games start?

The schedule for the games, which will take place July 14 to July 30, 2028, has already been released. Some events, like baseball, basketball, hockey and water polo, will begin July 12.

The 2028 Olympics will be the largest games in history, with more than 11,000 athletes across 51 sports.

Related Articles

Canadian ice master makes Olympic history with the Games’ 1st indoor temporary speedskating rink

PHOTO ESSAY: For US women’s ski team, balancing competition with camaraderie is key

Andrea Bocelli will headline the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic opening ceremony

USA Luge gets 11 athletes into Milan Cortina Olympics, 1 shy of maximum. Russia will get 2 spots

World champ Malinin leads one of the strongest US Figure Skating teams ever into Winter Olympics

Who can get in line for tickets?

Anyone can register.

But people who live in the Los Angeles and Oklahoma City areas will have a chance to get the first time slots reserved for locals. Oklahoma City will host the canoe slalom and softball events. You must have a zip code matching a credit card’s billing address in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Ventura counties for the California events, and in Oklahoma, Canadian or Cleveland counties for the Oklahoma events.

Locals will be eligible for a chance to access tickets early, from April 2 to April 6 of this year, if they register for the ticket draw by March 18.

And if they don’t get a coveted early time slot, they’ll be entered along with everyone else into the lottery for a time in the ticket queue.

How many will be sold?

LA28 has said it will release 14 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics, which would set a record, surpassing the 12 million sold for the Paris Olympics.

What do they cost?

Single tickets for both the Olympics and Paralympics will start at $28.

LA28, the planning committee, also launched a fundraising effort in November 2025 to be able to give away free tickets to people who live near the venues.

“The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are for everyone. This program is about making sure that the people who live, work and contribute to the spirit of Los Angeles can access the Games taking place in their hometown,” LA28 chairperson and president, Casey Wasserman, said in a press release.

What the organizers haven’t said

The LA28 committee says full ticket sales will open later in 2026 but have not given a firm date.

The committee also hasn’t released other details about purchasing rules — such as how many seats, for how many events, these early ticket buyers might be able to secure.

“Opponents are quick to blame Raise the Age for remaining violence, but the real failure isn’t the law—it’s the reality that our neighborhoods have been systematically stripped of resources.”

The yard at a youth detention center in Brooklyn. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

As a teenager, I carried a gun. Not with the intention to hurt anyone—I knew it was dangerous—but because I was scared of being jumped, robbed, or killed—things that had already happened to people I knew.  

But it wasn’t just fear. I felt lost. I didn’t see a future—only threats. There weren’t people around to show me something different, just other kids trying to figure it out, too.

In wealthier neighborhoods, kids walked home past community centers, parks, and after-school programs. Where I lived in the Bronx, it was liquor stores, fast food joints, and police. There was no safe place to ask questions. Whether it was needing help getting out of a gang or just someone to talk to after a fight at school, we had no trusted adults or services to turn to.

When I was 22, I was arrested for gun possession and sent to Rikers. At Rikers, my fear only intensified, turning into anger and leaving me more disconnected. 

After spending eight months on Rikers, what finally gave me a new way forward was an alternative-to-incarceration program (ATI) run by the Fortune Society that I entered as part of a plea deal. 

When I first started the program, I was skeptical and detached. I showed up late, arms crossed, thinking it was just another box I had to check to stay out of jail. Most of us don’t trust the help of these programs at first. But Fortune’s goal with the program wasn’t punishment—it was to teach skills that would allow me to take accountability and correct course. After so many systems let you down, it takes time to believe someone actually wants to see you do better.

As the mentors in the program showed me care—not judgment—I soon realized this was my positive path forward. They provided me real guidance and opportunities, including a job as a community navigator that was flexible enough for me to fulfill my court-mandated program hours while also earning a paycheck.

The program helped me own what I did, understand what led to it, and determine what I’d have to do differently moving forward. Jail never gave me that. 

I’ve seen the same story play out with kids I grew up with. Just as I eventually got through an ATI program, the ones who received support—a mentor, a safe space, an opportunity—moved forward. The ones who didn’t often ended up dead or incarcerated with records that shut doors before they got a chance. 

After completing the program, I became a certified peer mentor, working to help other system-involved young people learn and grow like I did. I’m also now a member of the Youth Justice Council (YJC) convened by the Legal Action Center, using my experience to push for smarter, more humane justice policies at large.

Recently, during an exercise with the YJC, I was asked what would make my neighborhood feel safe. I didn’t hesitate: youth drop-in centers with credible messengers, mental health clinics, after-school art programs, paid internships, and summer jobs—safe spaces run by people who truly care. 

But, despite proven benefits of investing in supports, we are once again witnessing calls for increased surveillance and harsh punishment of Black and brown youth. In the past, such punitive approaches didn’t stop violence, but instead devastated our already under-resourced communities and further eroded any trust in law enforcement.

For instance, Raise the Age—a law based on the understanding that young people are still developing and need guidance, not jail—is under attack. Since New York State enacted Raise the Age (RTA) in 2018, youth arrests for violent crimes have gone down significantly: felony assault arrests dropped from about 15 percent in 2006 to just 4 percent in 2022. 

Opponents are quick to blame RTA for remaining violence, but the real failure isn’t the law—it’s the reality that our neighborhoods have been systematically stripped of resources. Since RTA passed, lawmakers have set aside $1.7 billion to fund community programs, mentors, and alternatives to incarceration. But now, years later, less than 40 percent has been spent—and of the dollars used, the majority has covered detention and administration costs, not the community-based services we were promised. And New York City isn’t even eligible to receive these funds from the state.

Looking back on my journey, it’s clear to me that real safety means investing in young people. Community-based programming helped me grow into the leader I am today. Now, I work to help others and expand the programs that I know from firsthand experience are key to transforming lives, improving public safety, and building strong communities. That’s what keeps all of us safe.

Corinthian Black is a community navigator with the Fortune Society and a member of the Youth Justice Council at the Legal Action Center. 

The post Opinion: Real Public Safety Comes from Support, Not Jail Cells appeared first on City Limits.

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday nixed a former high-ranking Justice Department official’s attempt to join the team defending ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s defense team, ruling that lawyer Bruce Fein had “no legal basis” to do so.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein had initially approved Fein’s application to join Maduro’s drug trafficking case but reversed course after the deposed leader’s actual lawyer, Barry Pollack, objected to his involvement.

Fein, an associate deputy attorney general during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, claimed in court papers that “individuals credibly situated” within Maduro’s inner circle or family had sought out his assistance. Fein claimed that Maduro “had expressed a desire” for his “assistance in this matter.”

But Hellerstein said in a written order that only Maduro has the authority to retain Fein as his lawyer, not unidentified individuals. He rejected Fein’s request for the judge to summon Maduro to court to ask him if he would like Fein added to the defense team.

“If Maduro wishes to retain Fein, he has the ability to do so,” Hellerstein wrote. “Fein cannot appoint himself to represent Maduro.”

Related Articles

Judge is asked for emergency hearing after MN lawmakers blocked from ICE facility in Minneapolis

FBI: Suspect in Mississippi synagogue fire targeted house of worship because of its ‘Jewish ties’

The Trevor Project receives $45M from MacKenzie Scott after difficult years and federal funding cuts

Meta names former Trump adviser Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chairman

Railroads and their regulators thwart safety fixes, costing lives

Messages seeking comment were left Monday for Fein and Pollack.

Pollack, a prominent Washington lawyer whose clients have included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was the only lawyer with Maduro at his Jan. 5 arraignment in Manhattan federal court, days after U.S. special forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in Caracas.

In court, Maduro called it a kidnapping and declared himself a prisoner of war. Pollack told Hellerstein he expected to make “substantial” court filings challenging the legality of his military abduction” and invoking immunity as the head of a sovereign state.

As Fein sought to join the case, Pollack said in a court filing last week that he’d spoken with Maduro and that the ex-leader confirmed to him that he doesn’t know Fein and has not communicated with him, much less retained him or authorized him to join the case.

Fein acknowledged in a written response that he’d had no contact with Maduro by telephone, video or any other direct way.

Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he worked with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. They remain held without bail at a federal jail in Brooklyn and are due back in court on March 17.

Gophers men’s basketball coach Niko Medved said he doesn’t have to educate his team too much about the importance of the Wisconsin rivalry, but he did emphasize one sour stat.

The Badgers have won nine straight games against Minnesota since 2020. The Gophers will be a home underdog as they look to keep the skid from reaching double digits at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Williams Arena.

“(When players) come to Minnesota and you learn pretty quickly what the rivalry means with Wisconsin; I think it’s something they understand,” Medved said. “You kind of saw that against Iowa the other night, but this one kind of takes on a new life of its own.”

Usually new coaches don’t attach themselves to negative stats carrying over from previous staffs, but Medved is leaning into this one. He has made the players “keenly aware” of it.

“Coach Medved all let us know (on Sunday that) it’s time,” sophomore guard Isaac Asuma said. “We’re here, and we got to show out for it.”

The Gophers’ 13 new players got their first experience in the U’s two primary rivalries in the 70-67 home win over then-19th-ranked Iowa last Tuesday.

New guard Langston Reynolds asked Asuma how big the Badgers rivalry is to the Gophers. Asuma is the best teammate to ask since he’s a Minnesotan who played in the rivalry games last season.

“This is huge,” Asuma said he relayed to Reynolds. “We might sell out (Tuesday). It’s going to be a tough game no matter how teams are in the year.”

The influx of Iowa fans at The Barn last week raised the game’s “intensity,” Asuma said, and plenty of Badgers fans are expected to be in Minneapolis on Tuesday.

Wisconsin (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) is coming off one of the most impressive wins nationwide this season, knocking off then second-ranked Michigan 91-88 in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

Minnesota (10-6, 3-2) is coming off a 70-69 overtime home loss to Southern California on Friday. That snapped a five-game winning streak, but the U has since turned its attention to the Badgers’ run in the rivalry.

Briefly

Medved said Monday on his KFXN-FM coaches show that there has been communication with the Big Ten’s coordinator of men’s basketball officials Terry Oglesby over some questionable calls in the USC loss Friday. …. The Badgers received 37 votes for the Associated Press top 25 after their win over the Wolverines. That fell a few spots outside the poll.

Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter (31) shoots over Minnesota forward Parker Fox, back center, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Related Articles

As Gophers fans boo refs, coach Niko Medved takes high road

Gophers fall in overtime, 70-69 to Southern California

Men’s basketball: As roster dwindled, Gophers connected

Gophers hold off late rally and upset No. 19 Iowa

When Gophers men’s basketball wins a road game, it’s snack time