California teen learning to drive plunges off cliff, killing her dad in tragic crash

 

James Politoski was teaching his 15-year-old daughter how to drive when a tragic accident turned what should have been a routine lesson into a heartbreaking loss.

Learning to drive is no easy task, and most of us remember the nerves that came with sitting behind the wheel for the first time. For James Politoski’s daughter, however, one of her very first driving lessons ended in a heartbreaking tragedy that took her father’s life.

According to People, the 64-year-old was teaching his daughter how to drive near Coast Highway, between Wesley and Montage Resort drives in Laguna Beach, California, when the accident happened on May 26, 2025.

The Laguna Beach Police Department told KCAL the crash occurred after a pedal mix-up caused the vehicle to break through a fence barrier and plunge down an embankment, according to Little Things.

“A father was being a good parent”

In a statement, police said that “a single vehicle, operated by a young driver with a permit, traveled from the upper parking lot of Gelson’s Market, breached a fence barrier, and continued down an embankment before coming to rest on Coast Highway,” according to PEOPLE.

Politoski was pronounced dead at the scene, while his daughter was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The tragedy sent shockwaves through the local community, with Laguna Beach Police Department spokesperson Lt. Jesse Schmidt describing it as a devastating loss.

“It’s a tragedy that certainly affects the immediate family, and it expands to our community,” she said after the incident, according to the Laguna Beach Independent.

She continued: “It’s a difficult situation when you’re dealing with an accident, and somebody loses their life.

“A father was being a good parent, trying to teach his daughter how to drive, which resulted in a tragedy like this. Our condolences go out to the family and the friends of these loved ones.”

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter Zahara becomes third child to go through with legal name change

 

Three of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s children have now taken steps to distance themselves from their father’s last name, with daughter Zahara reportedly becoming the latest to make the change official.

The 21-year-old daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt recently graduated from Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. As she walked across the stage, Zahara was introduced as “Zahara Marley Jolie,” leaving “Pitt” out of her name – a moment that caught viewers’ attention.

However, this was not the first time she had publicly moved away from using her father’s surname. In 2023, Zahara introduced herself as “Zahara Marley Jolie” during her induction into the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

She is also not the only one of Pitt and Jolie’s children to distance herself from the “Pitt” name. The former couple share six children, and Zahara is reportedly the third sibling to move away from using her father’s last name.

According to In Touch, Zahara recently filed a petition with California’s Superior Court to remove “Pitt” from her legal name. Her sister Shiloh made a similar change in 2024 in connection to her 18th birthday, while her older brother Maddox was credited as “Maddox Jolie” in the credits of his mother’s latest film.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s children

The reported name change comes about a year and a half after Pitt and Jolie finalized their divorce in December 2024. The Hollywood stars first announced their separation in 2016 after two years of marriage and more than a decade together, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

What followed was a lengthy and highly public legal battle involving custody arrangements, several major shared assets, and accusations of physical and emotional abuse. Pitt has consistently denied those allegations.

At the time of Shiloh’s name change, her attorney, Peter Levine, criticized media coverage surrounding the decision.

“The media should be more careful in their reporting, especially when covering a young adult who has made an independent and significant decision following painful events, and is merely following legal process,” Levine told PEOPLE, according to Tyla.

A source close to Pitt later told the publication regarding Jolie: “It’s sad to see someone repeatedly publicise their successful alienation of their children from the other parent.”

Meanwhile, speculation has continued that daughter Vivienne could eventually follow in her siblings’ footsteps. In the May 2024 playbill for The Outsiders, which Jolie produced with assistance from her daughter, she was credited as “Vivienne Jolie.”

Death row inmates in Texas no longer get a final meal due to one man’s bizarre request

 

One Texas death row inmate is the reason prisoners in the state no longer get to choose a final meal before their execution.

For decades, inmates in Texas were allowed to request a last meal of their choosing before being put to death. But that long-standing tradition came to an abrupt end in 2011 after one inmate’s actions sparked outrage among lawmakers. The inmate was Lawrence Russell Brewer, who was executed on September 21, 2011, for his role in the 1998 killing of James Byrd Jr.

The murder shocked the nation. Byrd, a Black man, was tortured before being chained by his ankles to the back of a pickup truck and dragged for three miles. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice: “Brewer and his co-defendants then dragged the victim to his death, leaving his decapitated and dismembered body to be found the following day by citizens and law enforcement officials,” as cited by The Mirror.

For the Byrd family, Brewer’s execution brought a painful but necessary sense of closure. His sister, Clara Taylor, addressed the moment, saying: “Hopefully, today we have been reminded that racial hatred and prejudice can lead to tragic consequences for both the victim and his family, as well as the perpetrator and his family. Our sincere condolences to the family of Lawrence Brewer.”

Byrd’s two sisters and a niece described the execution as “the next step to total justice for James.”

The crime sent shockwaves across the country and directly triggered major hate crime legislation. Brewer and co-defendant John William King became the first white men in Texas history to receive the death penalty for killing a Black man. Both had ties to white supremacist organizations, including the Confederate Knights of America and the Ku Klux Klan. A third man involved, Shawn Allen Berry, was sentenced to life in prison.

The tradition of the final meal 

Ahead of his execution on September 21, 2011, Brewer submitted a final meal request that was, to put it mildly, extreme.

According to VT, the large order included two chicken fried steaks, fried okra with ketchup, a cheese omelet with ground beef, jalapenos and bell peppers, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger and three fajitas with all the trimmings. But it didn’t stop there. He also wanted one pound of barbecue with half a loaf of white bread, meat lover’s pizza, vanilla ice cream, peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts, and three root beers.

The state prepared every last item. But when it was time to eat, Brewer didn’t touch a single bite. When asked if he had any final words, he simply said: “No. I have no final statement.” He was pronounced dead at 6:21 PM by lethal injection.

“Enough is enough”

Texas lawmakers were furious. State Senator John Whitmire wasted no time, firing off a letter to the executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Division:

“Enough is enough… it is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It’s a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim.”

The executive director agreed – and just like that, an 87-year tradition was gone. No death row inmate in Texas would ever again be allowed to choose their final meal that way

20-year-old McDonald’s worker left in ICU after coworker allegedly threw scalding hot oil at him in horror attack

 

A California McDonald’s employee remains in intensive care after suffering severe burns when a coworker allegedly threw scalding hot oil on him in what police describe as an unprovoked attack.

Jacob Smith, 20, has spent more than a week in the ICU after the May 30 incident at a McDonald’s in Yuba City, California. According to authorities, he suffered second-degree burns across 22 percent of his body, including his face, neck, right arm and back.

“He was in the office getting ready to count the money when he saw out of the corner of his eye something, and he just turned, and the oil was just thrown on him,” his mother, Amber Smith, told KCRA, according to LadBible.

“I want justice to be served”

The injuries have left Jacob dealing with intense pain as he recovers.

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Donald Trump accused of posting racist photo of the Obamas

 

Donald Trump is facing accusations of racism after sharing another edited image featuring former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama on social media.

The post comes shortly after a different manipulated image triggered outrage by portraying the former first couple as apes in a jungle. That image was later removed.

Trump’s new post shows the Obamas standing on the stairs of a blue-and-white aircraft, while smiling and waving. The aircraft itself has been spray-painted with the phrases “Yes We Can” and “BLM” (Black Lives Matter). It also shows graffiti in Arabic on the plane, which reads “alhamdulillah,” meaning “praise be to God” or “thank God,” according to PBS News.

Donald Trump’s post about Obama

Last month, Trump also shared a manipulated image of Obama’s presidential library in Chicago, depicting a giant bag of garbage on the roof and a neglected landscape surrounding the building. Alongside it, he wrote: “The Obama Library ten years from now will be a ‘Mecca’ for those who hate America! President DJT.”a

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The altered image of the Obamas was just one of several posts Trump shared on Truth Social on Sunday, according to VT. In another, he reposted an older edited image that appears to show Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni smiling up at him beneath the caption: “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.”

With leaders set to meet in Turkey this week, the resurfaced image may once again become a talking point. Earlier, Trump claimed Meloni kept asking to take photos with him at the G7 summit, saying she wanted to be pictured with him because of his influence.

From Chunk to powerhouse attorney: The wild journey of Jeff Cohen

 

The Hawaiian shirt.

The legendary Truffle Shuffle.

And loveable chaos machine who stole scenes in The Goonies without even trying.

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But what happened to the kid behind the icon —Jeff Cohen — might be one of the most surprising Hollywood story of all.

Behind-the-scenes

Jeff Cohen’s rise (and crash) from child stardom happened almost overnight.

Born Jeffrey Bertan McMahon on June 25, 1974, in Los Angeles, he watched his family shift early in life. When he was around seven or eight, his parents separated, a moment that marked him deeply.

Not long after, he chose a new identity for the screen, adopting “Cohen” as his stage surname, a tribute to his mother Elaine’s maiden name.

Before his breakout role in The Goonies, Cohen was already popping up on television. In 1982–83, he appeared as one of the kids who helped explain clues to players on the CBS game show Child’s Play.

A few years later, in the summer of 1985, he returned to TV as a young celebrity guest on the game show Body Language.

While filming the legendary The Goonies, Cohen cemented his place in pop-culture history with the unforgettable Truffle Shuffle, bringing infectious energy to the role of the lovable misfit, Chunk.

Jeff Cohen shouting through a hole in the door in a scene from the film ‘Goonies’, 1985. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)

With Richard Donner at the helm and Steven Spielberg producing, the adventure-comedy told the story of a ragtag bunch of kids embarking on a high-stakes quest for lost treasure in hopes of saving their neighborhood.

A funny behind-the-scenes tidbit that many fans might have missed: Jeff Cohen was actually covered in chickenpox while filming Goonies. Worried he might get replaced, he kept it a secret and showed up on set anyway. According to the DVD commentary, sharp-eyed viewers can even spot the chickenpox on his chest during the iconic “Truffle Shuffle” scene.

Director Richard Donner once said that Jeff’s acting had a real, genuine quality — he was just himself on screen.

This is how Cohen has described getting the role of Chunk:

“There were basically about four fat kids in town, so every time there was a fat kid role you saw the same people at the audition,” he told the Daily Mail.

“It was survival of the fattest.”

”Acting gave me up”

After the success of The Goonies, Jeff Cohen would have loved to continue acting, but one thing stood in his way.

”When I hit puberty, it was a career-ender for me. I was transforming from Chunk to hunk, and I couldn’t get roles anymore,” he said.

Then came the line that broke every Goonies fan a little:

“It was terrible. My first love was acting, but puberty had other ideas. It was a forced retirement. I didn’t give up acting. Acting gave me up.”

From left to right, Jeff Cohen, Sean Astin, Corey Feldman and Ke Huy Quan in a scene from the film ‘Goonies’, 1985. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)

So Jeff stepped away from the industry entirely, throwing himself into school, sports, and trying to find an identity beyond Chunk.

He joked later:

“I’m pretty good at exercising and watching my diet because I know I could slide back into Chunk. But I am very proud that I was a professional fat person. Anyone can be an amateur, but who can be a pro?”

Joined the football team

At UC Berkeley, he joined the football team, got through brutal hazing (“I was always knocked on my a**”), and even became the school mic man, where thousands chanted for him to perform the Truffle Shuffle. He finally did it once, and the crowd went ballistic.

There’s no doubt that Jeff Cohen and The Goonies director Richard Donner formed a strong bond during filming. Jeff has since praised Donner for his ability to draw out genuine emotions and natural performances from the kids, helping make the film a timeless classic.

But Donner’s support didn’t stop there. When Jeff asked him for a college recommendation, Donner not only wrote the letter, he was so moved by Jeff’s personal struggles that he generously covered the cost of his entire college education. Donner then helped him land behind-the-scenes jobs at studios.

Jeff recalls Donner booming at him:

“Hey kid, what do you want to do?”

“I want to be an actor.”

“That’s stupid. You’re not going to be an actor. You’ve got to know about the business.”

Donner wasn’t being cruel — it was tough love. And it worked.

Jeff earned a business degree at Berkeley, a law degree from UCLA, and entered the world of entertainment law.

A poetic twist

But the funny thing is that the former child star didn’t just become a lawyer.

He became one of the entertainment lawyers in Hollywood.

”I still wanted to contribute to entertainment because I always loved the entertainment industry,” Cohen once told The Journal News.

He co-founded Cohen & Gardner LLP, made Variety’s Dealmakers List, and The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Gen Executives.

His office is a shrine of his past life: He has Steven Spielberg-signed E.T. poster: “To Jeff (Chunk) Cohen, you are my favorite Goonie” and a Superman poster from Donner: “My man, with you anyone can fly.”

Jeff Cohen at the ceremony honoring Kevin Feige with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame held in front of the El Capitan Theatre on July 25, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images)

During an interview with Daily Mail, he laughed:

“My clients get a kick out of the fact their lawyer is Chunk. They dig it.”

And in a poetic twist? He negotiated the deal for his Goonies brother Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once, the role that won Quan the Oscar.

Ke Huy Quan thanked him on stage: “My Goonies brother for life.”

Today, Jeff Cohen is 51 years old and he may no longer look like Chunk. He may never do the Truffle Shuffle without “three martinis” and careful lighting.

But he is proud, deeply proud, of where he’s landed.

”I think it’s crazy. I dig it and I’m very proud of ten-year-old me and that he was able to make such an impact,” Jeff shared.

Unlike so many child stars, Jeff Cohen came out of Hollywood unscathed—a rarity in the industry. Even at a young age, his natural comedic talent shone through, and today he channels that same wit as a successful Hollywood lawyer.

While it’s bittersweet that he stepped away from acting, staying connected to the industry in a new role was a smart move.

Despite the challenges Hollywood threw his way during puberty, he’s built an incredible life — helping talents like Ke Huy Quan secure major deals, remaining a genuinely great person, and leaving behind a timeless legacy with The Goonies. By any measure, that’s what success looks like!

Part 2: The Secret Trust

 

My fingers trembled as I tore open the thick manila envelope. Inside was a collection of legal documents, bank statements, and a copy of a birth certificate. The name on the birth certificate read Noah Vance, but the names listed under the parents made my breath catch in my throat. His biological father was Julian Vance—a prominent billionaire philanthropist who had passed away just two years prior.

“I am the executor of the Vance estate,” the stranger explained quietly, stepping into the small hallway. “Julian spent the last decade of his life searching for the son he lost to the system after a bitter, messy divorce and the tragic death of Noah’s mother. By the time Julian found out Noah was in the orphanage, the records had been sealed due to an administrative error.”

I looked down at the bank statements. The numbers were staggering.

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“Noah isn’t just an orphan who aged out of the system, Mrs. Vance,” the lawyer said. “He is the sole heir to a trust worth over forty million dollars. But there was a condition attached to it by his father’s will.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. “What condition?”

“The money was to remain locked until Noah turned twenty-eight and was legally married,” the lawyer replied, looking past me toward the bedroom where Noah was still sleeping. “Julian wanted to ensure his son found someone who loved him for exactly who he was, not for his sudden wealth. Noah has known about this for six months.”

To discover why Noah kept this life-changing secret from me, continue to Part 3 below.

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