Fights broke out at UCLA Sunday, April 28 among pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel supporters after a barrier that was meant to separate the dueling groups of demonstrators was breached.
A group called Stand With Us scheduled an 11 a.m. rally to show support for Jewish students after days of often intense pro-Palestinian protests at campuses across the United States, including at crosstown USC. The rally was co-sponsored by the United Jewish Coalition in partnership with the Israel American Council and several related organizations.
Members of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice scheduled a 9:30 a.m. demonstration to support students’ right to protest, in response to a request from pro-Palestine protesters at the campus.
“This morning, a group of demonstrators breached a barrier that the university had established separating two groups of protestors on our campus, resulting in physical altercations,” Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a statement. “UCLA has a long history of being a place of peaceful protest, and we are heartbroken about the violence that broke out.”
According to the Daily Bruin, members of both groups were facing off on the lawn between Haines Hall and Kaplan Hall Sunday morning.
“Fights have broken out between protesters supporting Israel and those supporting Palestine in Dickson Plaza,” the newspaper reported at 10:57 a.m.
Overnight, the pro-Palestine protesters expanded their UCLA campus encampment outside to stretch from the top of the Janss Steps to the east end of Royce Hall.
The growing number of pro-Palestine protesters has been met with an equally fervent group of counter-protesters who played loud music near the encampment and shouted chants about Palestine preceded by an obscenity, according to the Daily Bruin.
One counter-protester stomped on a Palestinian flag at the encampment while another ripped posters off the exterior of the encampment, the Daily Bruin reported.
As of Sunday morning, groups supporting the counter-protesters had raised $64,478 on GoFundMe to support Bruins for Israel, more the twice the initial $26,000 goal.
The makeshift cluster of more than 50 camping tents for the pro-Palestine protesters began forming early Thursday and continued to grow over the weekend.
Organizers of UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment, similar to their counterparts at USC, issued a list of demands calling for divestment of all University of California and UCLA Foundation funds from companies tied to Israel, along with a demand that the university call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and an academic boycott by UC against Israeli universities, including a suspension of study-abroad programs.
It was unclear whether all of the participants were UCLA students.
“Our top priority is always the safety and wellbeing of our entire Bruin community,” Osako said in a statement Thursday morning. “We’re actively monitoring this situation to support a peaceful campus environment that respects our community’s right to free expression while minimizing disruption to our teaching and learning mission.”
If going 20 for 20 at the top of this “unaffordability” ranking wasn’t painful enough, look at California’s share of this city-by-city scorecard this way …
93% of the 30 costliest cities were from the Golden State
83% were in Top 40.
78% were in the Top 50.
69% were in the Top 75.
61% were in the Top 100.
51% were in the Top 150.
Or ponder the statewide pain like this: A California home costs 8.4 times income ($765,197 vs. $91,551) compared with 4.7 times nationally – $347,716 price vs. 74,755 income.
Pressure points
Here are California’s Top 20 …
No. 1 Newport Beach: Cost ratio of 25.4 times – $3.2 million price vs. $127,353 income.
No. 2 Palo Alto: 19 times – $3.4 million vs. $179,707.
No. 3 Glendale: 15.2 times – $1.2 million vs. $77,483.
No. 4 Los Angeles: 12.5 times – $953,501 vs. $76,135.
No. 5 El Monte: 12.3 times – $733,107 vs. $59,368.
No. 6 Costa Mesa: 12.2 times – $1.3 million vs. $103,891.
No. 7 El Cajon: 12.1 times – $801,111 vs. $66,045.
No. 8 Inglewood: 12.1 times – $757,106 vs. $62,601.
No. 9 Hawthorne: 11.9 times – $872,568 vs. $73,515.
No. 10 Sunnyvale: 11.8 times – $2 million vs. $169,781.
No. 11 Irvine: 11.6 times – $1.4 million vs. $123,003.
No. 12 Huntington Beach: 11.3 times – $1.3 million vs. $111,122.
No. 13 Torrance: 10.9 times – $1.2 million vs. $108,406.
No. 14 Garden Grove: 10.6 times – $917,752 vs. $86,975.
No. 15 San Jose: 10.5 times – $1.4 million vs. $133,835.
No. 16 Anaheim: 10.4 times – $881,544 vs. $85,133.
No. 17 East Los Angeles: 10.3 times – $660,277 vs. $64,156.
No. 18 Long Beach: 10.3 times – $825,502 vs. $80,493.
No. 19 Oceanside: 10.2 times – $850,185 vs. $83,271.
No. 20 Tustin: 10.2 times – $1.1 million vs. $104,427.
By the way, No. 21 is Arizona’s Flagstaff with a 10.15 cost ratio – $646,425 vs. $63,612.
The ‘bargains’
California’s most “affordable” cities on this scorecard include …
No. 233 Visalia: 4.6 times – $372,140 price vs. $81,362 income.
No. 177 Bakersfield: 5.3 times – $380,862 vs. $72,017.
No. 169 Palmdale: 5.5 times – $495,928 vs. $90,330.
No. 160 Stockton: 5.7 times – $430,810 vs. $76,231.
No. 149 Fresno: 5.8 times – $370,798 vs. $64,196.
The nation’s cheapest city, by this math was Jackson, Mississippi, with a 1.4 cost ratio – $57,808 vs. $40,631.
Quotable
A sobering tidbit, nationally speaking, from the report: “On an inflation-adjusted basis, household incomes increased by just 4.5% since 2000, while home prices increased by 59%.”
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
Q. This may be outside your realm of expertise, but I’m hoping you have a suggestion. Cars speed on our residential street with no regard to residents (or pets). We have neighbors with young children and pets. Who do I contact to see about putting in speed bumps? The City Council?
– Mrs. Antonella Bennett, Pasadena
A. You came to the right place, Mrs. Bennett, Honk is all knowing – or at least he knows who to call for the goods.
Nader Asmar, Pasadena’s principal traffic engineer, told Honk residents can go to the city’s online City Service Center and put in requests. Just Google it. Even if the form isn’t filled out exactly right, he said it will end up with the proper official.
“We will … contact them and go through the process with them,” Asmar said. “The city does have humps, and there are many around town.”
Pasadena, as you can see, calls them “humps,” not “bumps,” and now deploys a version called “speed cushions.”
To get them installed, there are some regulations in the city’s policy. In general, the street must experience 1,000 to 4,000 vehicles a day, at least 15% of them have to significantly speed (33 mph or more on a 25-mph street), and a petition must be circulated with 67% or more of the block residents giving the project a thumbs-up. There are some other considerations, too.
The City Council approved the policy so city staffers can make the call.
Now for the fun, nerdy stuff:
Speed cushions look like rectangular pads. On asphalt streets in Pasadena, asphalt itself is used to make them. On concrete streets, rubber ones are bolted on.
They are wide enough so at least one side of a car must go over them. But they are skinny enough so a fire truck can straddle them and not lose speed on the way to an emergency.
For those outside of Pasadena who want speed humps, bumps or cushions, call your city hall and ask to be transferred to the department in charge of them.
Q. Honk: Who paints the address number on the curb? We keep getting pamphlets asking for $20 to repaint a fading street-address number for our home. Is this a city-sponsored program?
– Mauricio B. Edberg, West Hills
A. Honk would bet his editor’s paycheck it is a person or two just trying to make a few bucks or toiling for a charity.
In fact, he was out walking his dog this week and saw two young people sitting in the street, next to the curb, painting away. He admired how they had an orange pylon next to them so drivers saw them.
Years ago, a co-worker of Honk supplemented his income by painting the address numbers.
The painter must give the homeowner sufficient advance notice of the work, so he or she can object if desired. If you don’t ask for the work, you don’t have to pay, and the city does not determine the cost. The painter must be able to show residents the permit.
L.A. does regulate how the painting is done.
Other cities and unincorporated areas likely have similar laws. For info, once again, call your city hall or the appropriate local government.
HONKIN’ FACT: The 405 Express Lanes are averaging 1.2 million trips a month since they opened on Dec. 1. Eric Carpenter, a spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority, said that figure allowed revenue projections to be met to continue paying off the cost of the lanes’ construction. March pulled in the most cash for a month so far: $2.5 million.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk
Bringing Mars rocks back to earth costs too much, said NASA’s chief administrator on Monday, April 15, adding that the financially strapped, multi-billion-dollar planned mission managed by Pasadena’s JPL will need help from government and private industry if it’s going to get off the ground – and back again — cheaper and sooner.
Such a change in course for the Mars Sample Return program will have serious implications for the sprawling science, research and technology hub that straddles the region between Pasadena and La Canada Flintridge, leaders and experts said.
“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said Monday. “The bottom line is, an $11 billion budget is too expensive, and a 2040 return date is too far away. Safely landing and collecting the samples, launching a rocket with the samples off another planet — which has never been done before — and safely transporting the samples more than 33 million miles back to Earth is no small task.
“We need to look outside the box to find a way ahead that is both affordable and returns samples in a reasonable timeframe.”
Rather than calling on JPL to propose a revised mission architecture, Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said NASA would solicit proposals from across the science community, both government and private industry, for a new approach to the mission, called Mars Sample Return (MSR).
“We are requesting assistance from the NASA community to work together to develop a revised plan that utilizes innovation and proven technology to lower risk, to lower cost and to lower mission complexity, so we can return these really precious samples in the 2030s,” said Fox, who joined Nelson in the announcement.
JPL in 2015. Credit. NASA/JPL-Caltech
During the development of a new approach, Fox said, the agency would request only $200 million for the sample return program, well short of what the mission would need to operate as usual.
The implication for JPL is that the lab — itself part of NASA — will need to compete with other institutions for the chance to redesign its own mission. That’s because in an effort to save MSR from its own price tag, NASA is taking a major and unusual step by inviting the scientific community to bid for the opportunity to redesign the mission, a move that could yank the rug out from under JPL’s mission team.
When asked whether this change would have implications for staffing at JPL, Nelson said it was “to be determined.”
“Right now, if JPL were to come up with the answer, then I’d say JPL is going to be sitting pretty good, if they had the answer,” Nelson said. “But we’re opening this up to everyone because we want to get every new and fresh idea that we can.”
For more than a decade, one of the top priorities for the United States planetary science community has been getting rocks from Mars back to Earth.
A major part of this program has been the Sample Return mission, an ambitious operation that NASA’s Office of Inspector General called “one of the most technically complex, operationally demanding, and ambitious robotic science missions ever undertaken by NASA.”
The mission involves sending two spacecraft to Mars, collecting rock and soil samples, launching them off-planet, caching them in orbit and delivering them back to Earth – the first time a spacecraft would be launched from another planet.
The Mars Perseverance rover, which is managed by JPL, has already collected surface samples on Mars and deposited them in specialized canisters for eventual pickup and return by future missions.
Before this complicated mission can get off the ground, it will need to face a hurdle here on Earth, one that may kill MSR altogether: funding.
The MSR mission, which has been largely planned and managed out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was previously envisioned to cost between $5 and $7 billion dollars, delivering samples to Earth sometime in the 2030s.
After being examined by multiple Independent Review Boards, a troubling finding emerged – the MSR would either cost $11 billion or would be returning samples to Earth in 2040.
For NASA administrators, as Nelson and Foxx said Monday, neither of these options are acceptable.
In a statement released after the media event, JPL expressed its commitment to the Sample Return mission.
“JPL remains strongly committed to the Mars Sample Return mission, the highest priority in the past two Planetary Science Decadal Surveys. We will continue to contribute our unique capabilities to NASA and all partners to ensure mission success,” the statement read.
A joint statement released after Nelson’s announcement, Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, both of California, expressed support for both MSR and JPL.
“These cuts will delay the mission at a critical time, further diminish our highly-skilled workforce, and significantly undermine California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and our state’s globally-leading science and space leadership,” they said.
NASA’s immediate decision to change direction on the mission can be traced back to a decision by the United States Senate to allocate only $300 million for the mission in the fiscal year 2024 funding package, 68% lower than the $949.3 million NASA had requested. While the House of Representatives was willing to fully fund the program, NASA instructed JPL to plan for the $300 million operating budget while Congress failed to pass a spending package for four months.
“Remember, we were put in this situation because of the cutbacks by the Congress of the spending, and that’s what we are having to respond to,” Nelson said.
As a result, on Feb. 6, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab announced the sudden layoffs of 530 employees, around 8% of the lab’s staff, and 40 contractors. Nearly all of the cuts came from the Sample Return program. This news came only a month after 100 contractors had been laid off, most of whom worked on the mission.
When the appropriations bill funding the program finally passed in early March, the text included a rebuke of NASA for the staffing cuts to MSR, noting “concern that NASA’s actions have contributed to serious losses in NASA’s high-skilled workforce.” However, JPL, an Federally Funded Research and Development Center managed by Caltech, makes its own staffing decisions, independent of NASA.
This distinction did not stop representatives from sending letters to Nelson admonishing NASA for the layoffs. In late March, Butler and Padilla sent Nelson a letter urging the NASA administrator to allocate $650 million to MSR. In it, they stressed the consequences of inadequate funding.
“If forced to operate at the unnecessarily low funding level prematurely directed by NASA in its November 8 letter,” the Senators wrote, “billions of dollars in contracts supporting American businesses will be subject to cancellation, we will fail to capitalize on more than a decade of investment in assets already deployed on Mars, and hundreds of highly skilled jobs in California and elsewhere in the country will be lost.”
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, was one of those who signed on to a letter with House colleagues.
On Monday, she said she continues to push for commitment to the mission and protecting the JPL workforce, but said she is “disappointed that after eight long months of review … NASA is only just now issuing a call for studies on the best path forward.”
“Furthermore, I am extremely concerned that NASA is proposing a funding level for MSR that will be insufficient for JPL to continue making robust progress on the mission without sacrificing its integrity,” Chu said in a statement. “It frustrates me that NASA has chosen the Planetary Science Decadal Survey’s highest-priority mission to absorb almost the entire share of funding reductions.
According to Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, which advocates on space policy, the move by NASA indicates a wariness that JPL can get the job done.
“This is much more of a Hail Mary,” Dreier said. “In a sense, it’s a lack of confidence in the institutions that were already committed to the project, hoping that there’s something obvious or straightforward that they have missed.”
Dreier said he would be “very surprised” if NASA’s approach uncovers a new mission architecture “that is cheaper, faster, and more reliable.”
“The organizations in the United States who have successfully landed and operated on Mars told NASA ‘it will cost this much to do Mars sample return’,” Dreier said. “And NASA is saying ‘maybe people who don’t have that experience will do it better’.”
According to Fox, solicitations for proposals are expected to be released on Tuesday with the proposals due by May 17. NASA plans to have a list of finalists by early winter, at which point they will select a partner to shape the mission’s future.
LOS ANGELES — It’s overly simplistic to talk about “distractions” in discussing sports, and wins and losses, and individual performance. Yet we do it all the time.
So, under the circumstances of the last three weeks, when the stresses already inherent in Shohei Ohtani’s debut with the Dodgers, with a big contract and high expectations, were overlaid with a sports betting scandal involving his interpreter … oh, my, did us amateur psychologists have a field day.
There’s a reason we’re amateur psychologists.
Thursday provided some closure, when federal investigators unveiled the case against Ippei Mizuhara, revealing that the man Ohtani trusted so intimately allegedly stole him blind, to the tune of $16 million, to handle his own gambling losses with an illegal bookmaker. Not only was Ohtani not involved in gambling, but the unsealed indictment revealed that between 2021 and ’23 Mizuhara controlled the bank account into which Ohtani’s Angels salary was directly deposited, and Ohtani’s agent and financial people had no access and apparently no knowledge of what was happening.
How many of us could handle such revelations? Basically, Ohtani was revealed in the indictment as merely being way too trusting, and the early reports that he was a victim of “massive fraud,” shortly after the story broke when the team was in South Korea to open the season, were backed up when the feds revealed the details.
Wouldn’t being scammed – which is basically what this was – throw you off your game?
But here’s the thing: It didn’t throw Ohtani off his. He might have gotten off to a slow start, by his standards, but if there was any indication that he has risen above whatever the outside world might throw at him, consider this most recent stretch of games.
In Friday night’s 8-7, 11-inning loss to San Diego, Ohtani was 3 for 5 with two doubles and a massive home run in his first at-bat, a 403-foot, 107.3 mph missile deep into the left field pavilion that tied Hideki Matsui’s MLB record for Japanese-born players (175). That continued a stretch of seven games of Hall of Fame-caliber hitting dating to the end of the previous homestand and his first home run as a Dodger on April 3 against San Francisco: A .457 batting average, eight runs scored, four RBIs, four homers, five doubles, a 1.057 slugging percentage and a 1.620 OPS.
For the season through Friday, he’d raised his OPS to .979. His first eight games weren’t so much a slump as, well, slightly under Ohtanian expectations.
But it wasn’t like he’d suddenly snapped to attention and realized that he’d better focus. He does nothing but focus when he’s on the field, with maybe the odd exception when he’s running the bases.
He does not play like a distracted player. By all appearances, he does not allow himself to be distracted, which is why he parries the questions about the firestorm involving his now former interpreter. He answered a question from the Los Angeles Times before Friday night’s game that ended with the words, “I’d like to focus on baseball.” And when another interviewer after the game brought up the subject of the charges against Mizuhara, current interpreter Will Ireton said, “We’re (only) talking about baseball.”
His manager, Dave Roberts – whose Dodgers franchise record for home runs by a Japanese-born player, seven, should fall to Ohtani some time in the coming weeks, and at this rate maybe the next couple of days – is impressed by the emotional consistency of his new superstar.
“Unflappable,” is how Roberts described it. “He’s just very stoic. You don’t know his emotions He just kind of comes in every day the same, and you’d never know if things are good or things are bad or stuff (is) on his mind. He’s a pro. He just wants to play baseball.”
And, Roberts added after Friday’s game, “He’s playing great baseball. He’s got that look in his eye, like he wants to be at the plate. And he’s just taking really good swings, hitting everything hard … I just marvel at what he’s done each day in his preparation, and just the talent is something that’s pretty remarkable.”
Under the circumstances, remarkable may not even be an adequate description.
“He’s handled it with flying colors,” Roberts said. “He’s done a great job of just focusing on baseball and not letting it be a distraction for him. And our guys, as well, have handled it really well as far as that noise and not letting it affect their play. … Guys are pretty in tune with what’s going on, but it hasn’t affected the clubhouse or how we play.”
It has been a hallmark of these Dodger teams, particularly since Roberts became manager in 2016, that the clubhouse is unified and inclusive, with a number of strong veteran leaders setting the tone. When those leaders depart for whatever reason, others take up the mantle.
“I think we’re good about just sort of focusing on the controllables,” Roberts said. “I know it’s trite. I know it sounds simple. It’s not. It’s not. But our job is to be professionals and play baseball and represent this organization the best we can each day. And so everyone has things going on in their lives. But you got to be able to focus on our job. And, you know, with what we have here with the Dodgers, our guys do a heck of a job with that.
“You look back at my tenure here, there’s been a lot of things outside of baseball that we’ve had to deal with, and we’ve gotten through them. I think that shows a lot of perseverance, and we’ve done it. So I think that we have sort of a plan, a model, a way of going about things to kind of get to the other side of things.”
As noted, that clubhouse culture has been handed down. But, as Roberts said, “It’s ultimately about getting the right guys. And our organization does a very good job of getting high character guys. I talk a lot about having smart players, understanding things you can and can’t control, valuing your job. We have a lot of those guys.”
The implication? They have Shohei’s back, and he has theirs.
The Angels and Boston Red Sox line up for the presentation of colors by the United States Army Color Guard during the pregame ceremonies for the Angels’ home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A giant flag is rolled up after the national anthem before the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Former Angels pitcher Jered Weaver waves to the crowd before throwing out a ceremonial pitch before the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Former Angels pitcher Jered Weaver throws out a ceremonial pitch before the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Former Angels pitcher Jered Weaver reacts after throwing out a ceremonial pitch before the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Former Angels pitcher Jered Weaver hugs his son Aden after throwing a ceremonial first pitch before the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Fans look on before the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels starting pitcher Griffin Canning throws to the plate during their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Angels star Mike Trout fouls out to Boston Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire (not pictured) during the first inning of the Angels’ home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire catches a foul pop-up hit by Angels star Mike Trout (not pictured) during the first inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels sarting pitcher Griffin Canning holds a ball after giving up a two-run home run to the Boston Red Sox’s Reese McGuire (not pictured) during the second inning of the Angels’ home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Boston Red Sox’s Reese McGuire, left, slaps hands with third base coach Kyle Hudson as he runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of their game against the Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Boston Red Sox’s Reese McGuire, right, celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run home run during the second inning of their game against the Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels starting pitcher Griffin Canning throws to the plate during the first inning of the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Boston Red Sox’s Tyler O’Neill celebrates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of their game against the Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels center fielder Mike Trout watches as a ball hit for a solo home run by the Boston Red Sox’s Triston Casas soars over the fence during the second inning of the Angels’ home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story throws to first base to force out the Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe (not pictured) during the first inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels star Mike Trout hits a single during the fourth inning of the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels star Mike Trout runs to first base after hitting a single during the fourth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story is injured after trying to catch a ball hit by the Angels’ Mike Trout during the fourth inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story is treated by a trainer, left, as Manager Alex Cora, right, looks on after Story was injured while trying to catch a ball hit by the Angels’ Mike Trout during the fourth inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story, center, walks off the field with Manager Alex Cora, left, and a trainer after being injured while diving to try and catch a ball hit by the Angels’ Mike Trout during the fourth inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels shortstop Zach Neto catches a fly ball hit by the Boston Red Sox’s Rafael Devers during the fifth inning of the home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Angels starting pitcher Griffin Canning blows a bubble with his gum in the dugout after being replaced during the fifth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Angels star Mike Trout grimaces after hitting a fly ball for an out with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels star Mike Trout watches after hitting a fly ball for an out with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe hits a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe hits a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe hits a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela leaps but can’t reach a ball hit for a game-tying grand slam by the Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe during the sixth inning of the Angels’ home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe pumps his fist as he runs the bases after hitting a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels players react in the dugout after teammate Logan O’Hoppe, not pictured, hit a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe pumps his fist as he rounds first base after hitting a game-tying grand slam in the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe pumps his fist as he runs the bases after hitting a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe (14) is greeted at home plate by Miguel Sanó (22) and Taylor Ward (3) after hitting a game-tying grand slam in the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe, right, high-fives teammate Taylor Ward after hitting a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe, left, is embraced at home plate by teammate Miguel Sanó after hitting a game-tying grand slam in the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe, left, celebrates with teammate Mike Trout as he returns to the dugout after hitting a game-tying grand slam during the sixth inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox right fielder Tyler O’Neill dives but comes up short trying to catch a ball hit for a single by the Angels’ Taylor Ward during the seventh inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox right fielder Tyler O’Neill comes up short trying to catch a ball hit for a single by the Angels’ Taylor Ward during the seventh inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox right fielder Tyler O’Neill comes up short trying to catch a ball hit for a single by the Angels’ Taylor Ward during the seventh inning on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Taylor Ward scores past Boston Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire on an RBI single by Miguel Sanó (not pictured) to tie the game at 6-6 during the seventh inning of the Angels’ home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. The Angels lost, 8-6. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The Angels’ Taylor Ward slides home to tie the game during the seventh inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Angels’ Taylor Ward celebrates in the dugout after scoring the tying run in the seventh inning of their home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Kenley Jansen throws to the plate during the ninth inning of their game against the Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Kenley Jansen throws to the plate during the ninth inning of their game against the Angels on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Kenley Jansen, right, hugs catcher Reese McGuire after the final out of the ninth inning of their 8-6 victory over the Angels in the Angels’ home opener on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
The United States Army Color Guard begins to leave the field following the National Anthem for the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A pair of F-15C Eagles from the 144th Fighter Wing of the California Air National Guard fly over Angel Stadium during the National Anthem for the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Photographers take photos of former Angels pitcher Jered Weaver throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before the Angels’ home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
An Angels fan tries to stay warm before the team’s home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
ANAHEIM — The Angels provided an Angel Stadium sellout crowd of 44,714 with plenty of entertainment, but not a victory.
After trailing by four runs in the second inning, the Angels rallied to tie the score in the sixth and seventh innings before losing, 8-6, to the Boston Red Sox in their home opener on Friday night.
Logan O’Hoppe’s sixth-inning grand slam pulled the Angels even, and they had a few chances to take the lead after that, but they couldn’t do it.
“We know who we are,” O’Hoppe said. “It’s going to take for everyone else to see. … We know we’re capable of doing that tonight. We’re capable of finishing the job when we get in situations like that going forward.”
Their failure to finish the job this time was largely because of the ineffectiveness of José Soriano, the Angels’ flame-throwing multi-inning reliever who had been dominant in his season debut last weekend. He gave up single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth.
Jarren Duran, a product of Cypress High and Long Beach State, gave the Red Sox the final lead of the night with an eighth-inning homer off a 99.4-mph fastball from Soriano.
Soriano gave up another homer in the ninth, the second of the game from Tyler O’Neill, and the Angels (4-3) saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.
“They showed what they’re made of,” Manager Ron Washington said of his team’s comeback. “The game wasn’t over till the ninth inning, and I guarantee a lot of people thought it was over after they scored four runs. I’m proud of how those guys continued to have good at-bats. We just came up short.”
The Angels fell behind 4-0 in the second inning when Griffin Canning gave up three homers, and the hosts didn’t even get their first hit until the fourth.
In the fifth the Angels pushed home a run, but Mike Trout hit a flyout to leave the bases loaded. The Red Sox then got that run back in the top of the sixth, taking a 5-1 lead.
The Angels then capitalized on a sloppy inning from the Red Sox. Taylor Ward hit a fly ball to center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, who had the ball in his glove and simply dropped it. Brandon Drury then hit a grounder to third baseman Rafael Devers, whose throw to second was dropped by Enmanuel Valdez. Miguel Sanó was then hit by a pitch loading the bases.
An out later, O’Hoppe blasted a ball over the center field fence, tying the score with his first career grand slam.
The momentum was firmly on the Angels’ side at that point, but the Red Sox kept shoving them back down every time they hopped up. Each time the Angels scored, the Red Sox scored in the following inning.
“We couldn’t put a shutdown inning from the sixth inning on,” Washington said. “If we could have shut down two of those innings, it might have been a different game.”
By the time it was over, Canning’s outing seemed a distant memory.
Canning made it through 4⅔ and he allowed four runs, all of them coming on the three homers he allowed in the second inning.
Canning hung a slider to O’Neill on a 1-and-0 pitch, and O’Neill hit it into the seats in right center.
Canning’s next pitch was a first-pitch fastball over the outside corner to Triston Casas, who also went the other way to hit a homer to left field.
After an out and a hit batter, Canning threw another first pitch fastball to Reese McGuire, who pulled out to left field.
“Too many fastballs center cut,” Washington said. “Against some good hitters that like first-pitch fastballs and we gave them first-pitch fastballs.”
The velocity on the two fastballs that the Red Sox hit out were 92.8 and 91.6 mph. Two starts into the season, Canning’s average fastball has been 92.7 mph, which is down from last season’s average of 94.7 mph.
“I would like to throw harder,” Canning said. “But it’s early. I’m trying to find the feels that I want to have. Just stick with the process and go from there.”
Logan O’Hoppe’s first career grand slam is of the game-tying variety!
In a victory for local unions, LA Metro has reversed course by canceling the proposed turnover of its bike share contract to Lyft, documents show.
The contract was slated to go in February to Lyft’s subsidiary, Lyft Bikes and Scooters LLC, but that was abruptly squashed after heated protests from unions and gig drivers said the rideshare company was not friendly to unions.
A letter dated March 26 sent to current contract holder, Bicycle Transit Systems, Inc., (BTS) said: “The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has decided to cancel the subject solicitation.” It was signed by James Giblin, senior contract administrator for Metro.
Instead, LA Metro is reexamining the scope of the program and plans to put the contract out for bid once again under a Request For Proposal (RFP). There’s no timetable for the new RFP, said Dave Sotero, Metro spokesperson on Monday, April 1.
“There will be no interruption in bike share services,” he said.
Both Lyft and BTS said they would reapply under the new RFP.
“We are elated the voices of Angelenos were heard. Metro listened,” said Alison Cohen, founder and owner of BTS, which has been operating the system for the last nine years. “It is rare that once a decision is made they (Metro) change course. But it was the right thing to do.”
The contract was the subject of a rally by drivers for Lyft, Uber, DoorDash and other car and bicycle delivery workers — known as gig workers — in front of Metro headquarters on Jan. 18. About 40 rallied against giving the contract to Lyft’s subsidiary, arguing that Lyft has not treated workers fairly and that the contract would downgrade bike share service in L.A. County.
FILE- Felipe Caceras, organizer with the California Gig Workers Union, leads a rally on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, of gig workers who are against a plan by LA Metro to award a contract to Lyft for managing and operating Metro’s Bike Share program. Metro canceled the request for proposal and did not award the contract to Lyft at the end of March 2024. (photo by Steve Scauzillo/SCNG).
Workers said they had been trying to join a union and have had labor disputes with Lyft, a ride-sharing company that has other ventures including operating bike share programs in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco.
A letter sent to LA Metro from David Green, SEIU Local 721 president and executive director, said Lyft’s alleged anti-union practices and failure to uphold equitable standards made it a bad choice.
This was one of 700 comments, letters and emails brought to the attention of Metro’s Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee that agreed to put off the matter in January. Although Metro staff recommended Lyft over the other vendors, the contract solicitation was canceled a short time later.
“We are proud of our submission, which earned the highest score from LA Metro, and look forward to reapplying to the new RFP,” wrote Jordan Levine, a Lyft spokesperson in an emailed response received on Monday, April 1.
On its website, Lyft wrote that a new ruling from the Department of Labor defining an independent contractor does not change Lyft’s business model and will not reclassify Lyft drivers as employees.
Lyft said that 92% of its drivers support a policy under which drivers would remain independent contractors and would receive “some but not all of the benefits that employees receive.”
Others that opposed giving Lyft the contract said Metro should not privatize a public transit system. “I applaud Metro reconsidering and ultimately canceling a frivolous contract which would have given taxpayer dollars to a private company making millions off the working poor,” wrote L.A. County Democratic Party Chair Mark Gonzalez in an emailed response.
Political and union forces could remain steadfast when Metro rejiggers the contract and opens it up to the lowest bidder.
“I hope LA Metro continues to heed the call for a robust bike share system worthy of Los Angeles that protects union jobs,” Gonzalez said.
Cohen said her company BTS, which is women- and LGBTQ-owned, has about 65 employees. Of those, 40 are unionized, she said. She is looking for a one-year extension at the very least. The BTS contract ends in August, she said.
The canceled 11.5-year Lyft contract proposal would have cost Metro $47 million less than the estimated cost of the current BTS contract, according to a Metro staff report.
In all of 2023, Metro Bike Share ridership reached 441,199, which is the highest annual ridership thus far, Sotero reported. The 2023 ridership figure shows an increase of 128,787 trips or 41%, compared to the highest pre-COVID ridership of 312,412 trips in calendar year 2018, he wrote in an emailed response.
Lowered costs and more available bikes increased use of the program, which mainly operates within the city of Los Angeles. The number of on-street bikes increased from 1,224 in April 2022 to 1,726 in November 2023. Pedal assist e-bikes increased from 97 in April 2022 to 370 in November 2023, Metro reported.
One person was killed and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy was injured during a shooting and collision Tuesday night in the Lakewood/Bellflower area.
Authorities investigating deputy-involved shooting, muscle car crash in Bellflower https://t.co/aAvNgOxou1
It occurred around 9:55 p.m. near the intersection of Downey Avenue and Artesia Boulevard and ABC 7 video showed what appeared to be a 1970s muscle car on top of the deputy’s patrol car at the scene. ABC7 reported a deputy opened fire during the shooting and a man was reported dead at the crash scene.
It was not immediately known how the deputy was injured. The deputy was taken to a hospital. Information on his condition was not immediately available, but CBS 2 reported the deputy was alert as he was transported.
The intersection of Downey Avenue and Artesia Boulevard was closed while deputies examined the scene for possible evidence and looked for any surveillance video at the scene, CBS 2 reported.
USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) shoots against UCLA guard Charisma Osborne during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) reacts after falling to the court during overtime in the team’s NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard JuJu Watkins falls to the court while vying for the ball against UCLA during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA guard Kiki Rice (1) shoots against USC guard Kayla Padilla (45) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard McKenzie Forbes (25) reacts after a shot-clock violation was called as UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez had the ball, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA guard Charisma Osborne (20) reacts after a 3-point basket against USC during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) celebrates as time expires on their double-overtime victory over rival UCLA in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal on Friday night in Las Vegas. Watkins had 33 points and 10 rebounds as the second-seeded Trojans outlasted the third-seeded Bruins, 80-70. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) is defended by UCLA guard Charisma Osborne during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard McKenzie Forbes (25) shoots against UCLA guard Charisma Osborne (20) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard JuJu Watkins and UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez (23) wrestle for the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA center Lauren Betts (51) shoots against USC center Rayah Marshall (13) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
The Las Vegas Aces’ Chelsea Gray; her wife, Tipesa Gray; and the Aces’ Jackie Young, from left, look at the Grays’ infant son, Lennox, during the Pac-12 tournament semifinal between USC and UCLA on Friday night in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC center Rayah Marshall questions a call during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) shoots against UCLA during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez (23) shoots against USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) looks to pass the ball during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard Kayla Padilla (45) brings the ball up against UCLA during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard McKenzie Forbes (25) celebrates the team’s overtime win over UCLA in an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA guard Kiki Rice (1) drives against USC during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA center Lauren Betts (51) shoots against USC center Rayah Marshall during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard McKenzie Forbes (25) and Kaitlyn Davis celebrate Forbes’ 3-point basket against UCLA during the first half of an NCAA college basketball in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb watches during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA coach Cori Close wipes her brow during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against USC in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC guard McKenzie Forbes (25) and teammates celebrate an overtime win against UCLA in an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA coach Cori Close watches during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against USC in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
USC center Rayah Marshall (13) reacts as time runs out in the team’s overtime win over UCLA in an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA guard Charisma Osborne (20) draws a foul from USC guard Kayla Padilla (45) while shooting during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA guard Charisma Osborne (20) lies on the court after chasing the ball during the first half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against USC in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
UCLA guard Charisma Osborne (20) reacts after a 3-point basket against USC during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament Friday, March 8, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
LAS VEGAS — She rocked back and forth for a moment on the hardwood, trying to summon the strength to pull herself up, to rejoin the action continuing without her at the other end of the court.
Finally, a whistle blew in overtime, and USC’s JuJu Watkins crumpled.
The freshman guard groped at her left ankle, writhing back and forth in agony, rolling into the fetal position as a trainer rushed over and sat her up. It seemed the death knoll for USC’s Pac-12 tournament hopes, a pall settling over a throng of thumping loyalists and stragglers alike at MGM Grand in Vegas. Not a minute into Friday night’s 80-70 victory over UCLA in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal, Watkins had collapsed similarly after a drive, limping off the court and straight to the tunnel with a sprained left ankle as head coach Lindsay Gottlieb sifted through mental worst-case contingency plans.
No need. Two minutes later, in that first quarter, she’d hobbled out from the tunnel. And about a minute and a half after she exited on the same ankle sprain in overtime, she somehow came trotting back, throwing herself back into a thicket of UCLA trees like she had never left.
“Even when I went out, I knew I’d get back in, because my team needed me,” Watkins said, adding later, “it’s just an ankle. Nothing I’m not used to. Feel great.”
Just an ankle. Yet another gutsy performance that could sit with the rest in Watkins’ freshman year, in what coach Lindsay Gottlieb has called the “storybook of Ju:” 33 points, 14 for 17 from the free-throw line, an ugly 9-for-27 line from the field in an at-times ugly double-overtime descent into madness in the desert.
But this is simply her, bandages and forehead welts and all, putting her body through a gauntlet through this February and March’s Pac-12 gauntlet and never once accepting the thought that her limbs might simply give way. This was the same kid, Gottlieb remembered with a smile, who she had seen turn her ankle during a 6 a.m. practice back in her high school days at Sierra Canyon and run right back out like nothing was the matter. And when asked postgame about the source of her competitive fuel, Watkins deflected onto her teammates with a bashful grin.
“We’re talking about it, like, Ivys,” Watkins said, referring to USC’s group of senior Ivy League transfers, “this is their last year. Like, you don’t know what’s going to happen next year. So we’re really taking advantage of everything.”
This is no longer a program on the rise. This is a USC program (25-5) that has arrived ahead of schedule, officially snatching a season series – barring another matchup in the NCAA tournament – from a UCLA team (25-6) that has long been the standard in Los Angeles, officially earning a berth in the Pac-12 championship game to play a top-seeded Stanford team (27-4) that has long been a standard of women’s college basketball as a whole. And Watkins’ grit was matched in whole by her fellow Trojans on Saturday night, the Ivys – McKenzie Forbes, Kaitlyn Davis and Kayla Padilla – all coming up with big-time plays in a game that seemed set to slip.
With the score knotted at 59-all in the final seconds of a back-and-forth regulation, a flurry of Watkins attacks was thwarted by UCLA stalwart center Lauren Betts and forward Angela Dugalic and Bruins guard Londynn Jones streaked to the rim for what could’ve been a game-closing layup. Except Padilla – a lithe 5-foot-9 guard who wasn’t known for her defense before arriving at USC from Penn – chased down and swatted Jones’ layup away, setting the stage for overtime.
As UCLA again held momentum in the first extra period, holding a four-point lead with less than a minute to go, Watkins stepped to the line for a pair of free throws. She made one. Missed the second. Back-breaker – except Davis, who stampeded around the paint like a baby elephant during a 16-rebound night, snared a board and kicked to Forbes for a 3-pointer to tie. On the next possession, Davis swallowed up a Betts layup attempt for a jump ball, roaring and flexing to her bench in glee.
“I felt like, all of us collectively came into it with a confidence, especially when the game is that tight,” Davis said postgame, “knowing that we can lock in and we’ve done it before.”
The third-seeded Bruins had every chance to close, a sobering reality for a group that might have lost its chance at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Both at the end of regulation and the end of the first overtime, they had two seconds for a final shot to win the game, only for guards to dribble nowhere and not even get a shot off before the buzzer. Betts feasted all night, with 17 points and 18 rebounds, but when asked postgame if her 16 shots were enough, Close responded simply: “No.”
Close, repeatedly, pointed the finger at herself and took accountability for all of it. She noted her displeasure with a lopsided first quarter, second-seeded USC ending the frame on a 16-0 run before a corresponding 16-0 run by UCLA the next period. She emphasized UCLA was out-toughed by USC; beaten, in a sense, at its own game. It’s on me, she repeated, in different variations.
And it was fitting in a bruising effort Friday night, really, that it ended with one final body bump, Forbes collapsing to the hardwood after a final-second foul from UCLA’s Gabriela Jacquez. Falling unceremoniously, smacking the court again – but with a smile, because there was nothing left but to smile.
And as Forbes drained her late free throws and the buzzer sounded on a USC win, Marshall snagged a rebound and roared with every decibel left in a tired voice, every fiber left in weary muscles, Kaitlyn Davis and teammates leaping for joy after felling their cross-town rivals once more and proving themselves in the desert.
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.”
Butta says he’s doing some networking for himself to replace the KDAY job and has been approached for opportunities in other radio markets or in syndication to do on-air shows or behind-the-scenes programming.
“People have been telling me, obviously, to do more podcasts or a syndicated show,” Butta says. “Then again, as I think of that, that’s part of the problem with radio. Syndication, automation, or voice tracks.
“It’s almost like I want to do it for the money, which I shouldn’t, because this is actually killing the industry that I work in and love,” he says.
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
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.
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.”
And there’s also this:
“During this era of (women’s) college basketball players with a huge following, we haven’t seen a young Black female with this type of attention,” Gottlieb said. “And I think that’s significant for her community. … It definitely has, I think, implications beyond just our team this season, kind of what you’re talking about as sort of the next wave of women’s college basketball.”
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.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley greets a supporter following her speech during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley listen as she speaks during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley takes a selfie with a supporter during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A supporter wears a button and sticker for Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley as she speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley listen as she speaks during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley takes a selfie with a supporter during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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.”
“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.”
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)
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.
In California, 169 delegates are at stake and — after the California Republican Party changed its rules last year — Trump could sweep them all. If a candidate can secure a majority of votes in the primary election (50% plus one), the rules now say, he or she will nab all the delegates, the most of any state. But if no contender can secure a majority, the delegates will be distributed proportionally.
About two-thirds (66%) of likely GOP voters in California surveyed in early January said they planned to vote for Trump, according to a Berkeley IGS poll. That’s a 9% increase from its October survey. Haley was in the No. 2 spot, that January poll found, at 11%.
“Donald Trump is running away with the Republican nomination. The question for Nikki Haley thus becomes one of strategy given that she is not going to win this time around,” said Matthew Beckmann, a UC Irvine political science professor.
Haley could be waiting in hopes that Trump will get bumped from the ticket, Beckmann said, or she could be using this campaign as the foundation for the 2028 presidential cycle or other endeavors.
However, “with all the uncertainty surrounding Trump, Haley plodding along and maintaining her status as the only other Republican running is something of a win unto itself,” he said.
“We should want to win the majority of Americans,” Haley said. “But the only way we’re going to do that is if we have a new generational leader.”
Haley had fundraiser events Wednesday as well and is capping off the day with a rally at the Hollywood American Legion Post 43 venue in Los Angeles later in the evening.
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.
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.”
SoFi will also host games in the Copa America this summer, serving as another test for what things might look like for the World Cup.
“It’s been a long, long, bumpy, twisting, winding road to this point,” said LAFC co-president and L.A. committee co-chair Larry Freedman. “When I think about growing up at what might have been the dawn of global football in the U.S. when the North American Soccer League was around and seeing the game grow and never quite catch on at the highest level and I think about Chris (Klein) and the story he tells playing on various levels of our national teams and seeing this sport grow and grow in this region.
“It started with the L.A. Galaxy and all of their rich and great history and then you get LAFC and now Angel City Football Club on the women’s side and you feel how important the game is in this market and this region and to connect it now with the biggest tournament in all of sports, it’s pretty exciting.”
Los Angeles Unified School District schools will remain open Monday amid heavy rain and potential flooding expected as a storm system makes its way over the region, district officials said on Sunday, Feb. 4.
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said during a news conference on Sunday that schools will remain open, with the decision heavily weighing on students who rely on school-provided meals throughout the week.
“Considering the fact that our students depend on nutrition at school, we have made the decision at this point to maintain our schools open going into tomorrow,” he said. “After this weekend, many (students) will depend on their breakfast, lunch, a snack, and in many cases their dinner.”
Plans to keep campuses open were initially tentative on Sunday, but around 7 p.m., the district announced that all school will be open on Monday, except for Vinedale College Preparatory Academy in Sun Valley as the area was under an evacuation warning.
Students and staff at Vinedale will instead be moved to Glenwood Elementary, about a mile away.
Carvalho urged parents and staff to make the decision on whether it is safe to make the drive to campuses on Monday.
“We recognize the severity and the threat that this storm brings,” he said. “We will be exercising a great deal of grace, patience and understanding both with our students and our workforce.”
Plans on whether to remain open on Monday were still subject to change, the district said, with another update expected to be posted on the district’s website and social media channels at 6 a.m. Monday.
“We do not expect them to change dramatically but if they do, we are ready to make decisions,” Carvalho said.
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.
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.
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.
Tracee Ellis Ross attends the 2024 Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden speaks at the 2024 Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Guests arrive to the 2024 Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Megalyn Echikunwoke attends the 2024 Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Guests arrive to the 2024 Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala at Paramount Studios in Hollywood on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
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.
Biden was backed by 91% of Black voters nationwide in the last general election, according to AP VoteCast. And, it was his success with this community that helped him claim victory in swing states like Southern Carolina, Georgia and Wisconsin.
But there’s no guarantee Black voters will support Biden with the same enthusiasm come November.
Only 50% of Black adults said they approve of Biden in an AP-NORC poll in December, compared to 86% in July 2021.
“I don’t think anyone’s taking anything for granted,” said Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo, referring to the Black vote. “So you roll up your sleeves, you work hard and you earn every vote. You don’t just assume they’re going to come to you.”
The president took advantage of his brief Los Angeles visit to meet with Black entertainment leaders and discuss the important role they have to play in the upcoming election, Deadline reported.
The couple are scheduled to depart the Southland on Sunday afternoon to attend a campaign event in Las Vegas.
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.
“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.”
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.
”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
