TUCSON, Ariz. — The president of the union representing Pima County sheriff’s deputies says the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was hampered from its earliest days by a homicide unit left short of experienced detectives following an unrelated internal personnel dispute.

Sgt. Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization, detailed his account of the staffing issues in an interview published August 15 by TMZ. According to Cross, two of the department’s most senior homicide detectives had been investigating a separate homicide case and were building probable cause against a suspect when a commander pressured them to make an arrest before they believed the case was ready. “What happened is two most senior detectives in the Homicide unit had been transferred out,” Cross said, adding that when the detectives declined to arrest the suspect prematurely, they were reassigned out of the Homicide Unit and into the Cold Case Unit.

Cross said that reassignment, which predated Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance and was unrelated to her case, ultimately left the Homicide Unit short-staffed and inexperienced by the time she vanished from her Tucson home in the early hours of February 1. According to Cross, the sergeant placed in charge of the Guthrie investigation had been promoted to that rank only in 2023 and had no prior homicide experience before rapidly moving from patrol duty into the unit. Cross said the detectives assigned to assist likewise had limited experience, generally three years or less, which he described as an unusual staffing decision for a case that quickly drew intense local and national scrutiny.

Cross’s account of the commander who ordered the earlier reassignment, whom he described as one of Sheriff Chris Nanos’s “favoured sons,” has not been independently confirmed. Cross has a documented history of political friction with Nanos. According to Fox News, Nanos placed Cross on administrative leave in the weeks before the sheriff’s contested 2024 re-election, which he won by just 481 votes, after Cross had publicly opposed him and allegedly collaborated with one of his election opponents. That history should be weighed alongside Cross’s latest allegations, which reflect his own characterization of internal department dynamics rather than an independently verified account.

Cross’s criticism echoes concerns raised earlier this year by separate sources. Fox News Digital reported in April, citing two sources with knowledge of the department, that only one detective assigned to the Homicide Unit at the time of Guthrie’s disappearance had more than three years of experience, while five others had less than two years, and that the sergeant supervising the unit had roughly six months of experience in that role and had never personally worked a homicide case before being placed in charge.

Sheriff Nanos has pushed back against ongoing criticism of the investigation’s handling. Addressing scrutiny of the case earlier this year, Nanos said internal or political commentary distracts from the active investigation, and that his department’s focus remains on pursuing justice and transparency for the Guthrie family. Nanos has also maintained publicly that the case remains active and has not become a cold case, despite the extended timeline.

Cross’s comments were not limited to detective experience levels. He also raised concerns about the department’s decision to allow Nancy Guthrie’s family control over the crime scene relatively early in the investigation, according to reporting from The Daily Beast, and pointed to broader coordination problems between local and federal investigators. A separate Wall Street Journal examination of the investigation reported additional concerns involving coordination between local and federal authorities and the handling of evidence during the case, adding to the broader scrutiny surrounding the department’s response.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen by family on January 31 at her home in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills neighborhood and was reported missing the following day. The FBI has said an armed individual appeared to tamper with her doorbell camera around the time of her disappearance, and blood found at her home has been confirmed to belong to her. The case is being investigated as a kidnapping, with two ransom notes tied to the disappearance made public in late July. No suspect has been publicly named, and Guthrie has not been found more than six and a half months after she vanished.

Cross was careful to frame his criticism around staffing and process decisions rather than claiming that different personnel choices would necessarily have solved the case. His allegations, however, add to a broader pattern of scrutiny surrounding the Pima County Sheriff’s Department’s handling of one of the most closely watched missing-person investigations in the country, at a moment when the Guthrie family continues to wait for answers about Nancy’s whereabouts.

Neither the Pima County Sheriff’s Department nor Sheriff Nanos has issued a detailed, on-the-record response specifically addressing Cross’s claims regarding the earlier detective transfers or the characterization of the commander involved in that decision.

Nicole Kidman says she and her “Lioness” castmates, including Morgan Freeman, have developed a demanding pre-scene ritual to keep up with the density of the scripts Taylor Sheridan writes for the CIA thriller, running through their lines together and quizzing each other on the meaning of nearly every word before cameras start rolling.

Speaking at Paramount+’s “The Icons of Taylor Sheridan’s Universe” event in April, Kidman described the sheer level of preparation required to make Sheridan’s dialogue feel natural on screen. “We have to understand every single thing we’re saying,” Kidman said, describing the scripts as dense and the process of fully absorbing them as a significant undertaking each episode.

Kidman said that before filming key scenes, she, Freeman and co-star Michael Kelly regularly run their lines together, then work through the material further to make sure every term and reference actually makes sense to them. She described the process as needing to become second nature, saying dialogue has to come across as though it’s language the actors would naturally use every day, even though much of the show’s specialized CIA and military terminology is far from their normal vocabulary. Kidman said she and her castmates work through that material by repeatedly asking each other to define and clarify terms until the meaning is fully locked in.

Beyond the line-running sessions with her co-stars, Kidman has said she works with a dedicated research team to help her understand every specific term she uses on screen, supplementing the fact-checking work Sheridan does himself as the show’s creator and primary writer. Kidman has previously compared the overall experience of preparing for the role to writing a thesis on the CIA, given the depth of research required to keep up with the show’s rapidly evolving, topical storylines. She said the show’s third season in particular has felt especially urgent and relevant, describing the experience of filming it as constantly navigating difficult, high-stakes subject matter that requires the cast to stay sharp scene to scene.

Freeman, 89, has offered his own praise for Sheridan’s writing style in a separate interview with The New York Times, crediting the creator’s ability to center the human experience within high-stakes, geopolitically charged storylines. Sheridan’s work, Freeman said, “has to do more with the human experience, what people are actually going through,” pointing to the emotional realism he says has defined Sheridan’s writing across multiple projects, including “Yellowstone.” Freeman specifically highlighted the character arc of Zoe Saldaña’s Joe McNamara within “Lioness,” noting the personal stakes involved for a woman balancing a dangerous covert career with a husband and children at home, and praising Sheridan for having what he called the courage to write honestly about those kinds of difficult, high-pressure personal decisions.

“Lioness,” which returned for its third season August 2 on Paramount+, follows Joe as she leads the CIA’s Lioness undercover program while navigating threats that increasingly bleed into her personal life. According to the show’s official logline, unseen forces circle Joe’s world throughout the new season as patterns emerge, names vanish and paths rearrange, forcing her to confront enemies operating in the shadows while managing a growing conflict between her professional duty and her home life. Kidman plays CIA supervisor Kaitlyn Meade, Kelly plays CIA Deputy Director of Operations Byron Westfield, and Freeman plays Secretary of State Edwin Mullins, rounding out the trio of senior officials who guide Joe’s missions from Washington.

Season three consists of eight episodes, released weekly on Sundays, following the same episode-count structure as the show’s first two seasons. The series, created by Sheridan and based loosely on a real CIA program, launched in 2023 and has grown into one of several Sheridan-created shows currently airing across Paramount+, alongside projects including “Yellowstone,” “Landman,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Tulsa King.”

Both Kidman and Saldaña serve as executive producers on the series in addition to their on-screen roles, giving them a hand in shaping the show’s direction behind the scenes as well. The extensive preparation Kidman has described, running lines, defining unfamiliar terminology and consulting outside research, reflects the broader approach the cast has taken toward capturing the technical authenticity that has become a hallmark of Sheridan’s high-profile television projects.

With new episodes continuing to release weekly through late September, “Lioness” remains one of the most closely watched entries in Sheridan’s expanding television universe, with Kidman, Freeman and the rest of the ensemble cast continuing to lean on their behind-the-scenes preparation routine to keep pace with the show’s dense, fast-moving scripts.

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LeBron James has officially entered the world of golf content creation, launching a new YouTube channel dedicated to documenting his ongoing journey with the sport, with the debut episode built around a reunion trip to Scotland with his 2016 championship-winning Cleveland Cavaliers teammates.

James announced the channel’s launch Saturday in a post on X, writing simply, “Welcome to my YouTube channel! My life on and around the course. Let’s go!!!” The channel, which carries the simple name “LeBron James,” is hosted on a personal YouTube account that had otherwise remained inactive prior to Saturday’s debut.

The first episode features James alongside former Cavaliers teammates Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye, marking the 10-year anniversary of the team’s historic 2016 NBA Finals comeback, in which Cleveland rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the 73-win Golden State Warriors and deliver the franchise’s first championship. The video documents the group playing a golf scramble format on courses in Scotland, split into two teams, with James, Smith and Frye continuing play into a second morning after rain cut the first day’s session short.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which was given early access to details about the channel, James and his friends will play rounds at some of the world’s most renowned golf courses, dine at local restaurants, and enjoy various off-course experiences throughout each episode. New episodes are planned to release monthly, always on a Saturday, chronicling what the outlet described as James’ ongoing journey with the sport.

James, 41, has spoken openly in the past about how much golf content he consumes, telling reporters at points during his career that he was more inclined to discuss golf than basketball when given the choice. He has previously appeared as a guest on other creators’ golf channels, including an appearance on the popular “Bob Does Sports” channel earlier this year, an experience that reportedly helped spark his interest in launching a channel of his own. James told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the launch that he currently plays to roughly a 22 handicap, describing golf as a pursuit that has given him the kind of ongoing competitive challenge he continues to crave even as his basketball career enters its later stages.

The channel’s debut arrives just weeks after James signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, ending an eight-year run with the Los Angeles Lakers and beginning what is expected to be the final chapter of his 24th NBA season. During the free agency process that preceded his decision, multiple private country clubs reportedly offered James complimentary memberships in an effort to help sway his choice of destination, a detail that underscored just how central golf has become to his life away from basketball in recent years.

James’ new venture also follows a separate, widely shared moment from earlier this month, when six-time major champion Rory McIlroy said during a press conference at the FedEx St. Jude Championship that he would love the opportunity to give James a golf lesson, describing him as an extraordinarily gifted athlete whose ability doesn’t always translate to the course. James responded almost immediately on social media, writing that he was “in for that lesson FOR SURE,” a public exchange that added further momentum to the growing attention around James’ golf pursuits just ahead of his channel’s launch.

The move places James within a rapidly growing corner of online content built around golf, a space that has produced massive audiences in recent years through channels and personalities including Rick Shiels, Grant Horvat, Good Good and Paige Spiranac, among others. The PGA Tour has increasingly embraced that shift as well, loosening its own social media policies to encourage players to build more personal online followings, and launching its own Creator Classic event to further bridge professional golf with the creator economy. Even against that already crowded landscape, few, if any, of golf’s existing online personalities carry the built-in name recognition and audience reach James brings as one of basketball’s most decorated and widely followed athletes.

James is no stranger to media production, having co-founded production company SpringHill Entertainment alongside longtime business partner Maverick Carter in 2007. That company became part of the broader SpringHill Company in 2020, which also includes a marketing agency the two co-founded, giving James an existing infrastructure of content experience to draw on as he now turns some of that focus toward his own on-camera golf journey.

With new episodes planned monthly and James still adjusting to his new team in Philadelphia, the channel offers fans an additional, more personal way to follow one of basketball’s biggest stars as he balances the final stretch of his playing career with an increasingly public embrace of his newest hobby.

SpaceX set a new company record Saturday evening, launching two Falcon 9 rockets from opposite coasts of the United States just 38 minutes and 31 seconds apart, the shortest gap between orbital launches in the company’s history.

The first liftoff occurred at 9:12 p.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying eight satellites into low Earth orbit for Louisiana-based telecommunications company Globalstar as part of a mission known as Globalstar 2-R. SpaceX confirmed via social media that all eight spacecraft were deployed successfully, separating from the rocket’s upper stage over a six-minute span beginning roughly 56.5 minutes after launch.

While that first rocket was still making its way toward orbit, a second Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on California’s central coast at 9:50 p.m. Eastern time, or 6:50 p.m. local time. That launch carried a classified payload for the U.S. Space Force under a mission designated USSF-366.

Saturday’s 38-minute, 31-second turnaround broke SpaceX’s previous record for the shortest interval between two of its orbital launches, a mark set on August 31, 2024, during a pair of back-to-back Starlink missions. The new record beat that previous benchmark by 27 minutes, underscoring the increasingly rapid launch cadence SpaceX has achieved as it continues to expand its Falcon 9 operations across multiple launch sites simultaneously.

Details about the USSF-366 mission’s specific payload remain undisclosed, consistent with standard practice for U.S. national security launches. SpaceX ended its public livestream of the mission shortly after the rocket’s first-stage booster landed, a routine step the company typically takes to keep classified payload deployment details out of public view. Even so, independent rocket-tracking analysts have offered some informed speculation about the mission’s likely purpose. NextSpaceflight.com, a spaceflight tracking website, wrote in its mission description that the payload is possibly a batch of classified low Earth orbit satellites built on SpaceX’s Starshield satellite bus, a variant of the company’s Starlink spacecraft platform modified specifically to carry out national security missions for the U.S. government. The site based that assessment on the rocket’s stage drop zones, which it said closely matched the drop zones used during earlier Starlink Group 15 launches.

Both of Saturday’s missions concluded with successful first-stage booster landings, continuing SpaceX’s now-routine practice of recovering and reusing its Falcon 9 rockets. The booster that launched the Globalstar mission returned to a touchdown at Cape Canaveral approximately eight minutes after liftoff, marking that particular booster’s 14th flight. The booster used for the USSF-366 mission landed on SpaceX’s droneship “Of Course I Still Love You,” stationed in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 8.5 minutes after its own launch, completing its 18th flight. According to reporting on the missions, the two successful recoveries pushed SpaceX’s all-time total of successful booster landings to 650.

Saturday’s dual launch brought SpaceX’s total number of Falcon 9 launches in 2026 to 96, with roughly 75% of those missions dedicated to deploying satellites for the company’s own Starlink broadband internet constellation. Starlink has grown into the largest satellite constellation ever assembled, now consisting of nearly 11,000 satellites in orbit, according to Space.com’s reporting, and continues to expand as SpaceX launches additional batches of satellites on a near-weekly basis alongside its other commercial and government missions.

The record-setting doubleheader adds to a string of operational milestones SpaceX has posted throughout 2026 as the company continues pushing the boundaries of its launch cadence. The company has separately marked notable individual booster reuse records this year, including boosters completing their 35th and 36th flights, reflecting SpaceX’s continued efforts to drive down launch costs and increase flight frequency through extensive rocket reusability.

SpaceX’s rapid pace of launches has increasingly relied on the company’s ability to operate simultaneously across multiple launch sites, including Cape Canaveral and the nearby Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. That geographic flexibility allows the company to prepare and execute missions on both coasts in parallel, a capability that proved central to achieving Saturday’s record-breaking turnaround between launches.

With SpaceX continuing to launch at a pace unmatched by any other rocket company in the world, industry observers expect the company to keep setting new operational records throughout the remainder of 2026, as it works to sustain both its expanding Starlink constellation and its growing roster of government and commercial satellite contracts.