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  • What could be next for Rep. Katie Porter after Senate loss?

    What could be next for Rep. Katie Porter after Senate loss?

    Rep. Katie Porter never planned for a career in politics, she says, that is, until Donald Trump became president in 2016.

    But Tuesday night, the political career that she’s built since she won her first congressional race in 2019 — one where she’s gone toe-to-toe with corporate CEOs and established her prowess as a Democratic fundraiser — hit a bit of a snag. Not too long after election returns had begun to come in, both the Associated Press and the New York Times had called the primary for California’s U.S. Senate race for Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and former Dodgers star Steve Garvey.

    “While the votes are still coming in, we know that tonight we’ll come up short,” Porter told supporters at a Long Beach election night watch party not much later.

    The Senate loss is surely a disappointment to Porter and her supporters, but it may not be the end of her political rope, experts say.

    Despite spending a whopping $23.2 million in the Senate race — a paltry sum compared to Schiff’s $40 million, but significant nonetheless — she still has $4.8 million banked in her war chest.

    See the latest election results.

    The race for the seat in California’s 47th congressional district, which she still represents, is a tight and crowded contest with Republican Scott Baugh and Democratic state Sen. Dave Min with narrow leads.

    Baugh, a former GOP Assembly leader, ran for the seat in 2022 as well, only narrowly losing to Porter by a few percentage points. Should he advance to the general election and win in November, that would open a path for Porter to vie for the seat again in two years, said Dan Schnur, a former campaign consultant who teaches political messaging at USC and UC Berkeley.

    Of course, if a Democrat wins the race, that would prove to be more difficult.

    Related: What Katie Porter told supporters after primary election loss for California Senate seat

    Gov. Gavin Newsom terms out in early 2027, and there are already several contenders who have declared or are at least flirting with a bid to become California’s next chief executive.

    While some might consider that a possibility for Porter, Schnur believes a down-ticket statewide seat may be a better option.

    “It’s difficult to go from a losing Senate campaign into a race for governor, but all of the other constitutional offices are up for election, too. Any one of them could end up being a logical next step,” Schnur said.

    Porter “didnt really do much to distinguish herself” in the Senate race, Schnur said, “but she didn’t do herself any harm so there’s no reason that she couldn’t decide that another elected office is in her future.”

    Sign up for Down Ballot, our Southern California politics email newsletter. Subscribe here.

    A former UC Irvine law professor, Porter could foray back into academia, said Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo.

    “I honestly assume every university would love her to be a guest lecturer, a regular lecturer or a professor given that’s what she did before she ran for office. Katie Porter can legitimately do whatever the heck she wants and be amazing at it,” Trujillo said. (He was not involved with her U.S. Senate campaign and has never worked for her, Trujillo said.)

    If she returns to UCI, that could solve another question involving her housing situation.

    Porter resides in one of the below-market price homes on UCI land, provided only for UCI faculty and staff – something her critics have hammered her about since she is not teaching. After her reelection to the House in 2022, Porter, according to a university spokesperson, “requested and was granted two years of unpaid leave (from UCI) to cover her current congressional term, in keeping with university policy and precedent, congressional ethics rules, and relevant state and federal law.”

    On Wednesday, university spokesperson Tom Vasich said Porter is still on academic leave, which means she can still reside in her home. He was not clear Wednesday if she could request another “leave” to remain in the home if she doesn’t return to teaching.

    Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Hanna Kang

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  • LA radio DJs Marci Wiser and PJ Butta discuss departures from KLOS and KDAY

    LA radio DJs Marci Wiser and PJ Butta discuss departures from KLOS and KDAY

    When P.J. Butta found out his job was being eliminated after 12 years at KDAY (93.5 FM), the midday DJ says it was a surprise — and it wasn’t.

    “Meaning that, it’s a surprise that I didn’t know it was going to happen,” he says. “But when you’re in radio, you expect it to happen at some point.”

    Butta was one of four midday DJs who lost their jobs at Meruelo Media stations in Los Angeles in February.

    In addition to Butta, Marci Wiser of KLOS (95.5 FM), Bryhana Monegain at KPRW (Power 106 FM), and Carolina “Caro” Marquez at KLLI (Cali 93.9) were also let go by the company.

    DJs Monegain and Marquez could not be reached for comment. Station owner Meruelo did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

    However, RadioInk.com earlier reported that Meruelo Media CEO Otto Padron shared a staff memo in which he referred to the cuts as “staff reductions.” The publication also reported that in addition to the four midday hosts, Meruelo also let go DJ Felli Fel who had held the afternoon time slot at Power 106 since 2000.

    For Wiser and Butta, it’s been sad to leave the community of listeners at the stations where they had worked for years.

    “I look at my listeners as family, extended family. I truly do,” says Wiser, who had worked at the classic rock station KLOS for more than nine years when she was let go. “The whole reason I got in this business is, well, I do have a love for music, but creating a connection with the listeners has always been really important to me, and that’s what makes it all worth it.

    “So I miss my listeners and I hope to be back at it very, very soon,” she says.

    “For me, my show was always interacting with listeners,” says Butta, who’d spent 12 years at the classic hip-hop station, the last 10 under Meruelo’s ownership. “When I entered radio, taking calls on the air and talking to the audience was kind of how I learned and how I’ve continued.

    “My bread and butter is talking to listeners and joking around with them,” he says. “To do a syndicated show, it’s just not the same. It’s like playing tennis but you don’t have a player there. You have to play against the wall and it’s no fun.”

    When asked about her next moves after leaving KLOS, Wiser hinted that there are things in motion but would wait until final decisions are made before talking about them.

    Butta still has side gigs he’s long held. So many, in fact, he laughs at how difficult it is to remember them all.

    “I’ve been in radio over 30 years, and even when I started radio I had other jobs,” he says. “Because you also know radio’s not gonna last forever.”

    “So you always prepare yourself,” he says.

    His gigs outside of KDAY include working at Dodger games as an in-game host, greeting the crowd as they arrive via the DodgerVision screens and playing games with fans between innings. He’s been an adjunct professor of radio at Mount San Antonio College since 2005. He’s got a syndicated Top 20 countdown show for international audiences.

    There’s a podcast called Smooth Era premiering in the near future in which he’ll interview stars of ’90s R&B, and he does live DJ gigs online or in-person, such as a recent networking mixer hosted by Daymond John of “Shark Tank.”

    Peter Larsen

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  • 4 Southern California midday radio DJs were taken off the air. What happens next?

    4 Southern California midday radio DJs were taken off the air. What happens next?

    When radio stations started eliminating overnight personalities, the excuse given was that it didn’t matter all that much. There are fewer listeners and the ratings don’t really cover the time between midnight and 6 a.m.

    Basically, they were saying no one would notice or care. That’s false, of course, but it gave the station owners a way to cut costs while not blatantly stating the opinion that personalities (and on-air presentation) are obsolete.

    Now they can’t hide what’s happening. Last month, Meruelo Media eliminated the midday jocks at its four Los Angeles stations, letting go of PJ Butta at KDAY (93.5 FM), Bryhana Monegain at Power 106 FM, Carolina “Caro” Marquez at KLLI (93.9 FM), and Marci Wiser at KLOS (95.5 FM).

    The midday position generally runs from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

    The cuts are a reflection of the downward spiral in which the radio industry finds itself, which isn’t helped as companies use personalities in multiple markets throwing the “radio is local” adage out the window. It’s kind of like the 1980s when satellite-delivered formats were becoming all the rage among some stations; to paraphrase what former Herald-Examiner (and later Daily News) radio reporter Ray Richmond said at the time, the move has many advantages: it’s cheap, it costs less, and it’s less expensive.

    “And did I mention it’s cheap?” he used to write.

    Good for the stations doing it? Nope. Just another nail.

    In my opinion, what should be done is simple: get rid of most upper management, get on-air content up to par, empower the local programmer to do what is necessary to compete, and hire a ton of advertising salespeople to help spread the word of your station to local businesses that need a way to find new customers.

    Red and Blue

    Michael Stark is a former Republican turned Democrat. His college friend Keith Curry is a former Democrat turned Republican. Together they created a new podcast originally (and as planned just temporarily) called “Solutions 2023,” now known as “Red vs. Blue.”

    Described as “politics without stress, drama and incivility,” the show attempts to find at least common ground on issues that currently divide the country. Stark, with whom I previously did a podcast covering this column, explains that it harkens back to the earlier days of talk radio, when both sides of an issue were allowed to be discussed.

    “I don’t want to be antagonistic,” Stark says. “Too many shows don’t allow different voices to be heard. This may come off as tame compared with some shows, but we truly want to discuss things in a way that allows all viewpoints … and hopefully come up with some real solutions.”

    You can find the Red vs. Blue (shouldn’t it be Red and Blue???) Podcast on Apple Podcasts and others; just search “Red vs. Blue podcast.”

    New HD Radio

    It may seem that HD Radio is struggling (because … it is) but in looking at some radios recently I happened to run across a new model from Sangean.

    Sangean is a company that makes some superb radios, from portables to home tuners … regular analog, HD, and even internet radios are available. The newest model is the HDR-19 which receives HD digital streams sent out with a station’s regular analog signal and acts as a Bluetooth speaker as well so you can stream music from your phone.

    It’s one of the larger table radios they make. It includes a clock with two gentle-wake alarms, a nicer-than-most HD radio display, and a beautiful natural cherry wood cabinet with rounded corners. It is also among the most expensive radios that Sangean makes, coming in at $300.

    I have not heard it, nor have I even seen it in person, but in pictures it has a truly premium (for today) look to the cabinet and front panel. The grill is even real cloth. The display is simple, yet a nice departure from most old HD radio display designs.

    Sangean offers more HD radio models than any other company, with the HDR-14 and HDR-16 portables, HDR-15 clock radio, HDR-18 table radio, and HDT-20 component tuner. They were also among the first to offer component tuners in the days of the HDT-1 and HDT-1X, both of which offered superb reception of both analog and digital broadcasts. I am told that the new models are even better.

    Interestingly, the new release comes at a time when the importance of radios is somewhat diminished. The advent of smart speakers that can play stations from across the world — I often listen to KHJ out of American Samoa — has made traditional radios less popular.

    But the simplicity of a regular radio cannot be overstated. And unlike the internet, radio waves will continue to work even in the event of an emergency that could knock out the cell towers. Every home should have at least one portable radio with fresh batteries.

    Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com

    Richard Wagoner

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  • Alexander: JuJu Watkins will lead the next generation of women’s basketball

    Alexander: JuJu Watkins will lead the next generation of women’s basketball

    LOS ANGELES — To really understand the impact JuJu Watkins has had on USC women’s basketball in just a few short months, consider the concession stands.

    No, seriously.

    A year ago, the Women of Troy played and defeated Oregon at home on a mid-February Friday night – a T-shirt giveaway, no less – and drew 1,126 fans, and my search for an open snack bar at the Galen Center was truly a search – one on the lower level just happened to be open. Smaller crowds, fewer concession staffers needed, right?

    Sunday afternoon, when USC played Utah – and Watkins broke the school record for 30-point games in a 74-68 loss to the Utes – there were 7,129 in the house, food stands were fully stocked and staffed … and lots of those in attendance were little girls waving signs, boys and girls – and adults – wearing JuJu jerseys, and certified basketball royalty in the courtside seats.

    Yes, Cheryl Miller has four season tickets directly across from the USC bench. The fulcrum of the school’s two NCAA championship teams in 1983 and ’84 – and indisputably the greatest player of her era – is prominent in her presence and one of a number of program alumni encouraged to come back by head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and lead assistant Beth Burns.

    They may have been attracted because they’re loyal alums, but they’re mainly there because of JuJu.

    This is a prime era for women’s college basketball, with more televised games, more attention, and as Gottlieb noted in a phone conversation this week, more investment in the women’s game than ever before. On the other side of the country, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has set the NCAA Division I women’s career scoring record and is creating a nice living for scalpers wherever the Hawkeyes go. Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers and LSU’s Angel Reese are among others who have taken advantage of the attention.

    But JuJu is the vanguard of the next generation of superstars. More significantly, she’s an L.A. kid who, rather than migrating to one of the sport’s established powers to chase a championship, opted to stay home and help build something.

    The amazing thing is that for all of the attention she gets here – including the throngs of well-wishers and autograph seekers who wait for her to come out of the Galen Center after home games – she’s a well-kept secret nationally so far. USC has played only two national TV games this season and most of its exposure has come from the Pac-12 Network, meaning a large swath of the country only sees JuJu highlights on SportsCenter or YouTube.

    There are plenty of highlights. Going into USC’s Thursday night game at Arizona, she has a school-record 12 30-point games (eclipsing Miller’s 10 in a season), a single-game school record 51 points in a victory at Stanford, three Pac-12 Player of the Week awards and 13 conference Freshman of the Week honors.

    Watkins leads the Pac-12 in scoring (28.2) and is 10th in rebounding (7.0), third in free-throw percentage (.861), third in steals per game (2.64), seventh in blocked shots (1.64) and seventh in minutes played (34.01). Nationally, she’s second in scoring to Iowa’s Clark (at 32.1 a game) and is 35th in free-throw percentage and 27th in steals per game.

    She is a 94-foot player, a potential difference maker at both ends of the floor with a significant skill set.

    “It’s been fun to watch JuJu,” Elise Woodward, a former player at Washington and now a broadcaster for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network, messaged on the Platform Formerly Known As Twitter.

    “JuJu has elite body control that is world class. The way she can elevate so quickly to get her jump shot off even with the defender close is special. The ability to change pace and tempo to freeze defenders, even when they have good position, and then explode by them, allows her to get easier looks in the paint than most other players. And when she misses, she pursues her own rebounds with a vengeance and her body control allows her to grab rebounds in tight spaces without fouling.

    “She is a shot maker at all three levels, with the height of a forward but the skills of a point guard.”

    And she seems to have accepted the responsibility of lifting the performances of those around her.

    “We have a really good team and we have other good players around her, but she was put in a situation where she’s had to shoulder the load from Day One, whereas some of those other players walk onto a top 10 team, a top 15 team,” Gottlieb said. “She’s all over the floor impacting the game in a lot of different ways. … I think the threat of her being able to drop 40 at any time affects game plans, which opens things up for other people.

    “She raises the level of play of those around her. I mean, she’s a complete player that most importantly has impacted winning. And I think for a young player to come in and have individual success, but more importantly lift the team is, I think, her greatest accomplishment.”

    The legend and the up-and-comer haven’t interacted a lot – “maybe 10 minutes, max,” Miller said – but there’s a link, given the expectations when Cheryl arrived at USC. The legend’s advice: Give JuJu time.

    “You know, Caitlin wasn’t Caitlin until her last two seasons,” Miller said. “Everything looks great on paper. Everything looks great for right now. But let’s see where she elevates her team. … Her junior and senior years, she’ll pretty much have it figured out. But right now a lot of that falls on Lindsay’s shoulders. You want JuJu to be JuJu, and that’s a fine line. Lindsay’s got to say, ‘Hey I’ve got to keep those reins a little tight. I’ll have them a little loose. But I have to be able to reel her in.’”

    The parallels? When Miller got to USC, she had a respected coach in Linda Sharp – “Anything she told me to do, I never rolled my eyes because I knew she had my best interests at heart,” she said – and two strong veteran teammates in twins Pam and Paula McGee. If she strayed, she heard about it.

    “I needed that, too,” she said, “because you can’t help when you’re coming in with all of that attention and all of the accolades to somehow think, yeah, you are the center of the universe. And then you find out very quickly you’re not.”

    It is a different environment now, of course.

    Miller said she’s impressed that JuJu understands that all of those little girls are looking up to her and that she has an opportunity, and responsibility, to set an example, be it in interviews, one-on-one interactions or social media posts.

    “She has an incredible following,” Gottlieb said. “I think the diversity of it is really interesting. It’s boys. It’s girls. It’s older, it’s younger. It’s just – it’s cool to have a JuJu jersey. It’s cool to be a fan here now. But also I think it speaks to JuJu and her family understanding the bigger picture. … it’s JuJu who wants to spend the time and interact with people. And I think she understands her place in all of this, you know, maybe beyond her years.”

    Gottlieb mentioned a road game at Colorado where the players were already on the bus, ready to leave for the airport, when an assistant coach saw a little girl waiting for Watkins.

    “He came on the bus and said, ‘Hey, JuJu, would you come out and sign for her?’ ” Gottlieb said. “And she said of course. She comes out, and as soon as she’s signing for the one kid, 50 other people started running down a hill to come to her. And we’re like, ‘Oh, man, we didn’t know we were opening her up to that.’

    “But this is what we’re starting to see, and I only think it’s going to grow from here.”

    If the JuJu Phenomenon does become the hottest ticket from coast to coast, it will only be positive for a sport that is beginning to hit its stride in the public consciousness – and, with the success of USC and UCLA, establishing a beachhead in the nation’s second-largest market.

    For years, the star stories have been concentrated in Storrs, Conn., Knoxville, Tenn., and more recently in such far-flung outposts as Eugene, Iowa City and Baton Rouge.

    “People used L.A. in some ways as a negative, like, ‘Oh, you know, women’s college basketball can’t be big in L.A. because there’s too many other things going on,’” Gottlieb said. “Or, historically, the L.A. schools haven’t drawn crowds. And I think she’s turned that narrative on its head, because L.A. loves winners and L.A. loves a show, and there’s no bigger winner or no bigger show than JuJu right now.”

    Jim Alexander

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  • Child shot in car in Santa Ana, is reported to be in critical condition

    Child shot in car in Santa Ana, is reported to be in critical condition

    A child was hospitalized Sunday evening, Feb. 25, after she was struck by gunfire while in the back seat of a car in Santa Ana, authorities said, with a search underway for the shooter.

    Santa Ana Police were investigating on Spurgeon Street on Sunday night after a child was reported to have been shot in a car. (Photo by OnScene.TV)

    The young girl was admitted to a hospital after a bullet struck her while she was sitting in the back of her parents’ car in the area near 17th and Spurgeon streets, according to Santa Ana Police Department Officer Natalie Garcia.

    It was not immediately known where exactly the child had been injured in the shooting reported just before 9 p.m., though authorities warned residents to avoid the area along Main Street between 15th and 17th streets. The area of 17th and Spurgeon was closed for the investigation.

    The child was in critical condition at the hospital Sunday night.

    Video news agency OnScene.TV provided video showing crime scene tape was set up by police on Spurgeon Street.

    Police were also seen Sunday night at CHOC — Children’s Hospital Of Orange County in Orange, where a white sedan was parked at an entrance and surrounded by crime scene tape.

    Information on a possible suspect, and whether it was a car-to-car shooting, was not immediately available and anyone with information was urged to call authorities, Garcia said.

    For some, Sunday’s shooting brought back painful memories of children struck by gunfire while riding in cars in recent year.

    A 4-year-old boy,  Gor Adamyan, was killed in a car-to-car shooting in Lancaster in December.

    And Aiden Leos, 6, was fatally shot on the 55 Freeway in Orange as his mother drove him to kindergarten in 2021.

    Hunter Lee

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  • Former Gov. Nikki Haley woos Southern California voters as primary ballots go out

    Former Gov. Nikki Haley woos Southern California voters as primary ballots go out


    Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley barnstormed Southern California on Wednesday, just as primary ballots are starting to arrive in voters’ mailboxes.

    The former governor and U.N. ambassador is courting voters — and fundraising — while in town.

    She is introducing herself to Southern California voters, highlighting her tenure as the Palmetto State’s former chief executive and her foreign policy experience as a U.N. ambassador. But Haley, 52, is also ramping up her criticisms of former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP primary race, saying he begets “chaos” and is focused more on himself than on voters.

    “I voted for Donald Trump twice. I was proud to serve America in his administration, but chaos follows him,” Haley said at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning. “We can’t be a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won’t survive it.”

    Pointing to House Republicans knocking down an Israel aid package and an appellate court’s recent ruling that Trump isn’t immune from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, Haley said: “Every bit of it is chaos, and he’s got his fingerprints on every bit of it.”

    “We need someone with executive experience, but we also need someone who knows national security,” Haley said.

    Her message to local voters, Haley told the Southern California News Group in an exclusive interview in Costa Mesa, is: “Let’s make America normal again.”

    “There’s a decision that (voters in Southern California) have to make. Do we go with the same or do we go in a new direction? And more of the same is not just Joe Biden; it’s also Donald Trump,” Haley said. “Are we really going to give them two candidates in their 80s? We can do better than that.”

    Haley has called for term limits and mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75. She said those views — and others — have fueled Trump’s and his surrogates’ attacks.

    “They don’t like that I’m not interested in being their friends,” she said. “I’m interested in serving the taxpayers of our country. … They can go and say whatever lies they want; my record stands true.”

    The ages of President Joe Biden (81) and Trump (77) should matter to voters, Haley maintains. “We will have a female president. The hard truth is, it’s either going to be me or Kamala Harris.”

    “We need someone who can do eight years of hard, strong discipline to get the job done,” Haley said.

    About 400 people crowded inside the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa during the drizzly morning — according to crowd estimates from Mario Marovic, a partner in the restaurant — sipping on drinks from the bar and eating passed appetizers like pickled deviled eggs and sweet potato goat cheese fritters. Animal heads, draped with bras, lined the walls; “Haley for President” buttons and signs adorned tables.

    The bar is named for John Wayne’s yacht, said Newport Beach Councilmember Erik Weigand, who introduced Haley at the Orange County event. “We need somebody just like John Wayne who can stand up to bullies … and that is why I like what Nikki Haley brings to the table.”

    In California, the GOP presidential election is considered “closed,” meaning only registered Republican voters will see it on their ballots.

    Stephaney Avital, an Orange County resident, said she’s been a registered Democrat but switched parties to support Haley in the primary.

    “I want to see a change in our country. I don’t want to see the same old circus that we’ve had in the last eight years,” Avital said. “We want to see moderation, we want to see logic, we want to see policies change. We want to see something different than we’ve already had.”

    Haley was met Wednesday morning by a small group of Trump supporters who gathered outside the restaurant. They waved “MAGA” flags and wore “America first” hats, calling Haley a “RINO,” a phrase that stands for “Republican in name only” and is used by the former president and his allies to malign those who are more moderate in the GOP.

    A small group of supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered outside an event for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Costa Mesa on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Orange County Register/SCNG)
    A small group of supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered outside an event for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in Costa Mesa on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Orange County Register/SCNG)

    Two demonstrators were escorted out of the bar for trying to shout down Haley during the remarks. At least one was a supporter of the former president.

    Haley briefly paused her remarks during the interruptions, using it to highlight her husband’s military experience. Maj. Michael Haley is serving in Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard. He and other servicemembers, she said, are making sacrifices so Americans can have freedom of speech.

    How Super Tuesday would be super for Haley

    The Southern California trip came on the heels of a big loss in the symbolic presidential primary election in Nevada on Tuesday night. There, voters picked “none of these candidates” ahead of Haley. Trump didn’t participate in the Nevada primary, where no delegates are awarded, and is instead focused on Thursday’s caucus.

    But Haley brushed it off Wednesday morning, calling it a “scam that Trump already had in the bag.” Her campaign, she said, didn’t spend time or money in Nevada, instead focusing on states like South Carolina and Michigan as well as Super Tuesday spots.

    Haley is committed to staying in the race through Super Tuesday, she said.

    “I’m not going anywhere. We have a country to save,” Haley said when asked about how long she’ll stay in the race. “We are determined to outsmart, outwork, outlast until we finish this.”

    Super Tuesday — March 5 this year — is a critical time in the primary election season; it’s the day when the most states vote and candidates can rack up more delegates for the summer’s nominating convention.



    Kaitlyn Schallhorn

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  • Frumpy Mom: This is a real trashy column

    Frumpy Mom: This is a real trashy column

    Can someone please explain something to me? Because I’m obviously too dense to understand it.

    First, here’s some background: We’ve lived in our nondescript little tract house now for 17 years of leafy suburban bliss. Lawnmowers and leaf blowers are the only sounds on the street, except for the barking of our dog, Lil Wayne, who’s determined to kill or at least maim every delivery man who approaches our doorstep.

    My handsome young adult son, Cheetah Boy, has lived with me most of this time. We moved here when he was 10 years old, onto the kind of street where the neighbors sit in lawn chairs in their front yards and wave to people walking their dogs. (Dog walking is a major competitive sport here.)

    It was quite a contrast from our former life in a 100-year-old shingle bungalow, in what writer Joan Didion would have called a “senseless killing neighborhood.”

    See, after years of being a cop reporter, sent out at all hours of the night to rough neighborhoods to cover the latest crime spree, I had developed a skin like elephant hide to all sorts of mayhem. Gang shooting at midnight? No problem. Knock on doors and interview the neighbors while hoping no one breaks into your car. Move into a dense, tough neighborhood? Piece of cake.

    When my kids were little and commented that they’d just heard a gunshot, I’d insist that it was just a car backfiring. Although I did find it a bit worrisome that my small children recognized the sound of gunshots. That probably wasn’t good, right?

    We lived there because that was the only place I could afford to buy a house, plus I love historic homes. We had a huge front porch where I enjoyed sitting every night, usually with a glass of wine. And there wasn’t a single drive-by shooting during the first seven years I lived there.

    But then, in 2006, a man was shot to death directly across the street from my house shortly after the kids had come in from playing in the front yard. Now, try as I might, even I couldn’t ignore something like that. Or pretend it didn’t happen.

    I panicked and immediately began searching for a safer place to live. I went back to all the neighborhoods I’d first looked at before I adopted my kids. In those early childless days, I couldn’t imagine living in boring suburbia, where the only redeeming feature I could see was that there were grocery stores nearby.

    “I’m just getting kids. I’m not getting a lobotomy,” I told myself back then, as I drove and drove, acquainting myself with every square inch of the city. I mean, there weren’t any cool coffee shops or bars to walk to. No Thai restaurants or vintage stores. Who could possibly stand to live in such a place?

    But this time, I had a different attitude. Now that I actually had the kids, the idea of convenient grocery stores loomed much larger in my imagination than a cool hipster coffee shop I never had time to visit anyway, because I was too busy going to Scout meetings and Little League games.

    After a long-yet-frantic search, I finally found a fixer-upper I could afford on a quiet, tree-lined street. There was a National Blue Ribbon school two blocks away and a high school nearby. No more driving anyone to school. Hooray. I think I would have moved to Dante’s Inferno for that.

    And, weirdly, no one ever seemed to shoot off guns there, not even on New Year’s Eve.

    Cheetah Boy and his sister have always had chores to do because kids must learn to take care of themselves. His most important chore was putting the trash cans on the curb each Monday night for pickup early Tuesday.

    It’s really not hard to be reminded to do this when you see all the neighbors’ cans out front, awaiting their fate.

    By my calculations, we have now lived in this house for some 884 weeks (assuming there actually are 52 weeks a year, which I really can’t be sure now due to my pesky chemo brain).

    That means that on 884 Mondays in a row, my otherwise clever and talented son has failed to remember to put the trash cans onto the curb. I have to remind him every week, at which point he grumbles and (usually) does it. Yes. Every week.

    So here’s my question (and, yes, I know some of you never thought I would get around to it.): Why can’t my son remember to put out the trash cans? Pretty sure if there were a video game about trash cans, he’d remember to play that. Or a TikTok with trash cans. He’d watch it. It’s just the actual real-life things he fails to recall.

    Just for reference, he also forgets to unload the dishwasher and put a new roll on the toilet paper holder.

    I’m just not sure what to do about this situation, which is why I’m turning to you, total strangers. You’ve helped me out in the past.

    How do I get my son to remember the trash cans? Do I hide money under the lids? That occurred to me. I’m waiting to hear from you. My email is mfisher@scng.com.



    Marla Jo Fisher

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  • Paralympian Ezra Frech commits to USC track team, making history

    Paralympian Ezra Frech commits to USC track team, making history


    LOS ANGELES — Two years ago, in his own words, Ezra Frech set a goal to make a Division I track and field team.

    Two years later, he tugged on a USC hat in front of a wall of Team USA jerseys – and made history, yet again.

    Frech, a Paralympian and world record holder in the T63 high jump, announced to his 131,000-plus Instagram followers on Monday that he has committed to USC’s track and field team. According to Team USA, the 18-year-old Frech is the first above-the-knee amputee in history to commit to a Division I track program.

    “I’m excited to continue my academic and athletic career competing against able-bodied athletes at … the University of Southern California,” Frech said in an Instagram video, unzipping his jacket to reveal a USC shirt. “Let’s go, Trojans! Fight on, baby!”

    It’s a truly monumental get for USC track coach Quincy Watts, as Frech will join USC following the Paris Summer Olympics. That will be his second stint as a Paralympian, as Frech finished fifth in the men’s T63 high jump with a mark of 1.80 meters (5 feet, 9 inches), before setting the world record at the 2023 Para Athletics World Championship at 1.95 meters (6 feet, 4 inches).

    According to his website, Frech was born with congenital limb differences and missing fingers, having his left leg amputated when he was 2½ years old and a toe transplanted to his left hand. He’s since become a widespread inspiration and viral sensation, documenting his track journey through his social media accounts. In 2013, he and his father Clayton founded Angel City Sports, an organization that provides equipment and clinics for para-athletes. The organization has hosted the Angel City Games, an event for adaptive sports and athletes with disabilities, annually since 2015.

    At the end of the day, the caption on his Instagram announcement spoke for itself.

    “HISTORY.”

    Courtesy of Marcel Padilla/SportsSourceMedia





    Luca Evans

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  • SoFi Stadium officials, L.A. host committee excited to host 2026 World Cup games

    SoFi Stadium officials, L.A. host committee excited to host 2026 World Cup games

    Sunday, SoFi Stadium was awarded eight games in the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.

    In the months leading up to Sunday’s announcement, reports had SoFi Stadium either being passed over by FIFA or limited in the number of games the stadium would host.

    “There was a lot of chatter around the field size, which all of it was unfounded,” Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said Monday. “Nearly every NFL stadium that exists in this tournament is undergoing some kind of renovation for FIFA to accommodate their field size, which is larger than a friendly match that you would host, for Copa America or Gold Cup, which we’ve hosted successfully.

    “I think a lot of that was driven by the competition amongst cities to try to knock stadiums down. When you have a stadium as attractive as SoFi Stadium and people competing for events, I think that was driven by other cities, than it was the reality of FIFA.”

    SoFi Stadium will host five group stage games, including two for the USMNT. The stadium will also host two games in the Round of 32 and one quarterfinal game.

    SoFi’s renovations are underway. Otto Benedict, Senior Vice President of Facility and Campus Operations for SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, said that construction began Sunday night.

    “SoFi Stadium was designed to host a FIFA regulation pitch size, so with our system we have in place now, we will fit a 65 meter (x 105 meter) pitch into our stadium,” he said. “In conversations with FIFA and their needs around auxiliary space for the field, we’re going to expand that and modify our seating system to include a couple more rows in each corner so that we can get to the 73-plus meter distance that FIFA has requested.”

    The renovations will create more space to fit the larger field required by FIFA. The first phase, according to the AP, is “replacing concrete in the corners of the lower bowl with bleacher risers that can be rolled back during soccer matches.”

    “We’re taking a 90-day sprint for the first phase of construction,” Benedict said. “Then we’ll go back to our normal configuration and go through our concert season and special events this summer and the NFL season.

    “Then in ’25, we’ll go back to do some different work there, build out our field for the first time, we’ll have a natural grass field that’s going to be designed to FIFA’s specifics, do some events and testing around that and then we’ll jump into ’26, which will be here before we know it.”

    Benedict said there will be an opportunity to add in temporary seating if needed for the World Cup. Also during the tournament, SoFi will adopt the new name “Los Angeles Stadium” due to FIFA’s regulations that prohibit sponsors’ from representing venues.

    SoFi Stadium has hosted several soccer events recently, with each drawing more than 70,000.

    “It’s been a fun process, it’s been a long process,” said former Galaxy president Chris Klein, who is also co-chair of the L.A. host committee. “Almost seven years to get to this point and we have another 2 1/2 to go. At the outset, we talked about hosting some of the biggest games in the 2026 World Cup and our focus was on the opener for the United States and hosting our men’s national team to open the World Cup.

    “We obviously know the final is a big deal as well, but to be able to welcome the world and our country at such an important time for soccer in the United States and to be able to build events around the opening, we’re extremely excited and happy with how things rolled out yesterday (Sunday). The clock starts now to kick off the World Cup in the United States.”



    Damian Calhoun

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  • LA drivers are warned to stay off freeways Sunday night through Monday morning as wild storm stalls

    LA drivers are warned to stay off freeways Sunday night through Monday morning as wild storm stalls

    Forecasters on Sunday urge Los Angeles area residents to avoid roads and freeways this evening through Monday morning, as a potential life-threatening, multiple-day storm is now forecast to stall over the county when it arrives.

    The National Weather Service expanded its high-risk warning for flash flooding in the area, as the slow movement of the storm will create widespread issues, causing major delays on soaked freeways and in local neighborhoods.

    While it will rain on Sunday afternoon, “very heavy” rainfall is expected from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday in Los Angeles County, with a 20% chance of thunderstorms. Heavy rainfall, around 4-8 inches now is anticipated in Los Angeles County until midnight on Tuesday, before turning into more moderate rain the rest of the day.

    Mountain and foothill areas could see up to 8-14 inches – and possibly 15 inches of rain throughout that window.

    “That’s a lot of water, people,” National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Kittell said in a briefing on Sunday morning. “Just a real mess.”

    Those who can work remotely should do that, or at least stay off freeways during the Monday morning commute, Kittell said.

    Airport delays are expected, including at the Los Angeles International Airport, as the county anticipates wind gusts of 30 to 50 mph through Sunday night, with winds steadily increasing and peaking from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. Much lighter winds are expected Monday.

    Residents in the La Tuna Canyon Road area north of Hollywood Burbank Airport were ordered to evacuate Sunday due to the high risk of debris flow triggered by the heavy rain expected to hit Southern California today through Tuesday. The affected area borders Horse Haven Street to the north, Martindale Avenue to the east, Penrose Street to the south, and Ledge Avenue to the west, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

    Evacuation centers for people and household pets have opened at Sunland Senior Citizen Center at 8640 Fenwick St. and Lake View Terrace Recreation Center at 11075 Foothill Blvd. Large animals can be evacuated to Hansen Dam Horse Park at 11127 Orcas Ave. in Lake View Terrace, and the LA Equestrian Center at 480 Riverside Drive in Burbank.

    Residents can check lafd.org/alerts for updates.

    This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

    How Southern California officials, residents are preparing for dangerous storm

    City News Service contributed to this report.



    Mona Darwish, City News Service

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  • First Lady speaks at LA gala championing Black brands and designers

    First Lady speaks at LA gala championing Black brands and designers


    First Lady Dr. Jill Biden spoke on the importance of supporting Black businesses and entrepreneurship at a star-studded gala at Paramount Studios on Saturday evening.

    Related: President Biden lands in Los Angeles to woo entertainment leaders

    The event was hosted by the Fifteen Percent Pledge, a nonprofit organization that asks businesses to commit 15 percent of their shelf space to Black-owned brands.

    It was attended by some of the biggest names in Black fashion, beauty and entertainment including including actress Tracee Ellis Ross, comedian Robin Theade and designer Emma Grede.

    The First Lady and President Joe Biden landed in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon for a brief, one-day trip. She used the gala to highlight the Biden administration’s work to advance economic equity and make it easier for Black companies to receive funding.

    Those efforts included doubling the amount of government loans given to Black owned businesses and investing $12 billion in community lenders to expand access to capital for minority owned businesses.

    “I want you to know that my husband, President Biden, is your partner, he understands that systemic change requires direct action,” she said.

    The First Lady spoke of the powerful reckoning brought on by the murder of George Floyd and the progress made to dismantle institutionalized racism since then. But she said that these advancements are under threat.

    “The real work of lasting change lies in the moments when history zags, when progress seems to ebb, when the marchers have all gone home and the spotlight has receded, when the backlash has swelled and opponents are working harder to erase the hard fought gains that we’ve made,” she said. “We can’t let them prevail.”

    Aurora James, founder of The Fifteen Pledge, also spoke about attacks on the diversity, equity and inclusion movement.

    She launched the nonprofit during the peak of Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Since then it has directed almost $14 billion worth of revenue to Black owned businesses through partnerships with major brands including Sephora, Nordstrom and Macys.

    James pointed to the Supreme Court’s overruling of affirmative action as an example of where progress has been lost.

    “There are no longer protections in place to ensure that we have an equal shot at an education, a good job, a bank loan, really anything,” she said. “This campaign is coordinated, it’s premeditated and it’s no coincidence that it’s intensifying at a very, very critical election.”

    Both James and Dr. Biden used the evening to call on event attendees — who represent some of the most influential Black voices in America — to help mobilize voters in November.

    Capturing the Black vote will be essential for a Biden path to reelection, many experts say.



    Clara Harter

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  • President Biden lands in Los Angeles to woo entertainment leaders

    President Biden lands in Los Angeles to woo entertainment leaders

    President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden touched down in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon to engage in a time-honored campaign tradition: courting celebrities in the hopes of gaining the support of their fans.

    Air Force One touched down at LAX at 3:25 p.m. on Saturday, ahead of schedule, after departing from Philadelphia hours earlier. Biden headed for the airport Saturday morning after speaking to supporters at his campaign headquarters in Delaware. On Friday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base to witness the return of three American service members killed in last weekend’s drone attack in Jordan.

    During their brief, less than 24-hour L.A. trip, the Bidens planned to meet with Black leaders in the entertainment industry to talk about the important role they can play in the upcoming election, Deadline reported Friday, as well as other campaign-related stops in the Southland.

    The President was greeted on the tarmac by Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Hawthorne. He paused to snap a selfie with Waters’ sister, Karen Waters, and spent about five minutes chatting with Padilla’s 9-year-old son, Diego, before boarding the M1 helicopter and departing for Santa Monica airport around 3:45 p.m.

    The First Lady joined the motorcade and headed to her own event.

    While the visit takes advantage of the even greater-than-normal concentration of entertainers and music’s behind-the-scenes movers and shakers in town for the Grammys, the couple did not plan to attend the ceremony as they depart for a campaign event in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon.

    “Getting entertainment surrogates is a long held tactic Democrats use in presidential campaigns,” said veteran democratic strategist Michael Trujillo. “And, the base of the Democratic Party is African American voters, so we need the base to turn out to make sure Biden gets reelected.”

    The Biden reelection campaign is likely extra eager to tap into celebrities’ star power — and wallets — as the recent WGA and SAG-AFRA strikes prevented industry leaders from organizing political fundraisers for many months, he added.

    “L.A. is a longtime ATM for presidential candidates,” said Trujillo. “Because of the strikes they (the Bidens) are probably not where they would like to be at in terms of engaging the Hollywood and entertainment types, but they’re actively giving them face time and recruiting them and getting them excited about Joe Biden’s reelection, because I think the alternative is scary.”

    Celebrities hold huge sway over American voters, research indicates.

    A brief Instagram post by Taylor Swift, for example, led to 35,000 new voter registrations in September 2023. The pop sensation has 279 million Instagram followers and endorsed Biden in the 2020 election. A 2024 endorsement would be powerful for the President.

    But Democrats shouldn’t be alarmed that she hasn’t come out swinging, or singing, for Biden just yet, Trujillo said.

    “Between now and November, you’re going to have the dog days of summer and traditionally, once Labor Day comes around, that’s when folks are paying attention to politics,” he said. “Then, I think there’ll be no shortage of celebrities, from the Taylor Swifts to the Tyler Perrys, supporting President Biden.”

    Saturday’s trip marked the President’s first visit to the City of the Angels since his three-day fundraising frenzy in December. Former President Donald Trump last set foot in the Southland in August 2023 when he attended the California GOP’s convention in Anaheim.

    Biden’s Saturday stop also coincides with the first official Democratic primary day of 2024, as voters in South Carolina head to the ballot box. The president is expected to sweep the primaries, facing challenges from minor candidates such as Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and author and speaker Marianne Williamson.

    Though the nominations are far from official, pollsters project a razor-thin, combative rematch between Biden and Trump in November.

    GOP frontrunner Trump, who leads former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley by a wide margin in the polls, faces a crossroads moment in the nation’s highest court this week.

    A case with the potential to derail Trump’s drive to return to the White House will swing the electoral spotlight on the Supreme Court starting Thursday.

    However, the Supreme Court’s ongoing deliberations over whether the former president engaged in insurrection, has the potential to put a stop to his candidacy.

    Meanwhile, at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Las Vegas on Friday,  RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel urged the party to unite around the goal of regaining the White House, AP reported.

    “We Republicans will stick together, as united as the union our party long ago fought to preserve,” McDaniel said, quoting Ronald Reagan, according to people who were in the room and disclosed her remarks on condition of anonymity to discuss a private gathering. “We’ll have our battles ahead of us, but they’re good battles, and they’re worth fighting for.”

    The swing state of Nevada may prove pivotal in the November election. At Sunday’s campaign event in the Historic Westside of Las Vegas, the President will speak directly to voters about the stakes of this election.

    The Associated Press and New York Times contributed to this report. 



    Clara Harter

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  • Inland Empire is California’s top job creator

    Inland Empire is California’s top job creator

    ”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations, while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data.

    Buzz: The Inland Empire was California’s top job creator during the past four years.

    Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked a state employment stats for 29 regional job markets – focusing on average 2023 employment vs. 2019, the year before the pandemic hit.

    Topline

    The region comprising Riverside and San Bernardino counties may be California’s most under-appreciated economic asset.

    The Inland Empire averaged 1.68 million workers last year – up 128,400 vs. 2019. That gain easily was No. 1 among the state’s job markets.

    Or look at the outperformance this way. California added 640,300 jobs since 2019 to 18.1 million. So, the Inland Empire created 20% of the state’s new jobs but comprises only 9% of the state’s total employment.

    The COVID-19 pandemic was a key driver in the Inland Empire’s job growth as the push for online shopping fueled rapid growth in logistics work. The region is a hot spot for transportation, warehouse and utilities employment.

    Consider that the Inland Empire last year had 209,000 of the state’s 865,000 logistics jobs — a 24% share. Yet the Riverside-San Bernardino region added 61,500 of these jobs in four years, 40% of California’s new 157,000 logistics workers.

    Details

    Los Angeles County was No. 2 for job growth during the past four years with 79,000 jobs added to 4.6 million, the state’s largest job market. Other big job increases were in …

    San Diego County: 69,900 added since 2019 to 1.6 million.

    Sacramento: 67,600 added since 2019 to 1.1 million.

    Orange County: 39,000 added since 2019 to 1.7 million.

    San Jose-Santa Clara: 36,500 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.

    Stockton: 30,700 added since 2019 to 278,000. That 12.4% growth was No. 1 among the metros.

    Fresno: 26,900 added since 2019 to 390,000.

    San Francisco: 26,300 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.

    Bakersfield: 18,500 added since 2019 to 292,000.

    Visalia-Porterville: 13,200 added since 2019 to 142,000.

    Oakland-Berkeley: 11,400 added since 2019 to 1.2 million.

    Bottom line

    Note that employment in four smaller job markets remains below 2019 levels.

    San Rafael’s off 4,600 workers to 112,000, Chico’s down 2,300 to 78,000, Santa Cruz declined by 1,000 to 103,000, and Napa dropped 300 jobs to 75,000.

    Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

    Jonathan Lansner

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