Wind turbine taller than the Eiffel Tower aims to boost German electricity production

• October 1, 2026

By PIETRO DE CRISTOFARO

SCHIPKAU, Germany (AP) — A wind turbine described by its developer as the world’s tallest now rises 365 meters (1,197 feet) above the sparsely populated landscape of eastern Germany, surpassing the height of the Eiffel Tower.

The colossal turbine has been built at an existing wind farm in Lusatia, southeast of Berlin. Once a major center of lignite mining, the region has increasingly turned to renewable energy in recent years. The prototype reached its full height this week and is due to be inaugurated in mid-November.

Jochen Grossmann, chief executive of Gicon, the Dresden-based engineering company that built the tower, said the structure would harness the stronger, more reliable winds found at greater heights. Conventional wind turbines typically have a hub height — the distance from the ground to the center of the rotor — of well below 200 meters (656 feet).

“At 300 meters, we have such constant and strong wind that we can produce more than twice as much electrical energy as with the same facility at today’s heights,” Grossmann said on Thursday. He added that it would also be possible to produce electricity for much more of the year than with existing turbines.

The turbine has a hub height of 300 meters (984 feet), and its rotor blades bring its total height to 365 meters. That makes it taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, at 330 meters (1,083 feet), and leaves it just short of Berlin’s television tower, Germany ‘s tallest building at 368 meters (1,207 feet).

Work on the turbine is not yet complete, with internal wiring still to be installed ahead of its planned inauguration on Nov. 19. The prototype is intended to measure the potential gains from building turbines at such heights.

Gicon plans to use the findings to develop a wind farm containing three to five extra-tall turbines, paving the way for possible full-scale production.

Grossmann also sees the giant turbines as a potential solution to the shortage of suitable land for wind farms. Existing sites could be expanded into “two-story” wind farms combining shorter and taller turbines, while new sites could be designed that way from the outset.

Germany has been working for years to expand the use of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. It switched off its last nuclear power plants in 2023 in a long-planned move, though that drew criticism after energy prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Germany also plans to stop generating electricity from coal by 2038.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, 59.1% of energy produced in Germany in the first half of 2026 came from renewable sources. Wind was the largest single source, providing 29.4% of the total.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

The drug used in Tennessee’s failed execution has come under past scrutiny

• October 1, 2026

By The Associated Press

The lethal drug administered in Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Christa Pike has been used in multiple states that carry out the death penalty and by the U.S. government after President Donald Trump resumed federal executions during his first term.

Pike, 50, remained alive after two doses of pentobarbital were administered Wednesday, according to her attorneys and media witnesses.

Tennessee officials haven’t explained yet what went wrong, and it wasn’t clear if Pike was still alive on Thursday.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee ordered a third-party review to determine what happened and said another scheduled execution in Tennessee will not take place this year.

What is pentobarbital?

Pentobarbital is a barbiturate, a class of drugs that depresses the central nervous system.

Approved medical uses include sedation, short-term treatment of insomnia, preparation for anesthesia and emergency control of certain severe seizures. It is also used in veterinary euthanasia.

In an overdose, it can produce coma, suppress breathing and cause circulatory collapse and death.

Why is it used in executions?

For years, lethal injections commonly used three drugs: an anesthetic, a paralytic that stopped breathing and potassium chloride to stop the heart.

That method drew criticism because if the anesthetic failed, the paralytic could prevent a prisoner from communicating pain. It also became difficult to maintain after drugmakers restricted distribution for executions.

The pentobarbital protocol was adopted at the federal level during Trump’s first term to replace a three-drug mix used in the 2000s.

As with Tennessee’s guidelines, the federal death penalty protocol calls for administering a 5 gram dose of pentobarbital; in medical settings, patients typically receive a fraction of a gram.

Trump resumed the federal death penalty after an informal moratorium during previous administrations. The federal government used pentobarbital in 13 executions between 2020 and 2021, contributing to making Trump the most prolific execution president in over 130 years.

During the Biden administration, the Justice Department stopped executions with pentobarbital after a government review raised concerns about the potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.”

After Trump came back to power, the Justice Department in 2026 reauthorized the use of lethal injections with pentobarbital.

How do guidelines vary in different states?

Georgia and Texas use a similar protocol to Tennessee, administering a second dose only if the first is unsuccessful. South Carolina, which turned to pentobarbital in 2024, automatically gives inmates two 5-gram doses spaced about 10 minutes apart.

Lawyers for people on death row have argued that giving such a large dose twice was proof the condemned were dying a lingering death, still conscious and feeling like they were drowning when fluid rushed into their lungs.

But a South Carolina Department of Corrections attorney said inmates are unconscious in well under a minute and can’t feel anything. The heart may show an occasional flicker on a monitor, but that’s because it is the last organ to use the body’s stored oxygen and has residual electrical impulses.

When past lethal injection executions have gone wrong, it is usually because an IV line can’t be properly inserted and the execution is stopped before the drugs are given. There have also been cases of violent reactions or prolonged time passing before death when a new combination of drugs are used.

Wednesday’s failed pentobarbital execution appeared to be the first time problems happened with that drug. Witnesses frequently report that inmates stop breathing and become still less than a minute after getting the drug.

What have experts said about the drug?

Experts quoted in the 2025 federal review argue pentobarbital can cause pulmonary edema, a buildup of fluid in the lungs that may create a sensation of suffocating.

The review concluded that “there remains significant uncertainty about whether the use of pentobarbital as a single drug lethal injection causes unnecessary pain and suffering” and advised that the government should “err on the side of humane treatment.”

Other specialists quoted in a report released by the second Trump administration said a lethal dose causes unconsciousness before that occurs.

​ Orange County Register 

LAFC promotes assistant Xavi Tamarit to interim coach

• October 1, 2026

Spaniard Xavi Tamarit, an assistant coach with LAFC since January, was named interim head coach Thursday.

Tamarit, 44, fills the vacancy left when LAFC relieved first-year head coach Marc Dos Santos of his duties on Sunday.

Following 39 games in all competitions this year, the move to replace Dos Santos marked the first time that LAFC parted ways with a head coach during a season since entering Major League Soccer in 2018.

“Xavi brings a wealth of experience at the highest levels of the game and a clear understanding of our players, their strengths and what this group needs now,” LAFC president of soccer operations John Thorrington said in a statement. “We have full confidence in Xavi and the rest of the staff to get the best out of this team. Our standards and ambitions remain unchanged, and we are committed to giving everything to finish the 2026 season strong.”

In the news release announcing the decision, LAFC said Tamarit’s “familiarity with LAFC players and daily work within the club position him well to lead the group through the remainder of the season.”

Tamarit brought more than two decades of elite coaching experience when he joined LAFC, including inside the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Argentina’s first division.

Working for more than a decade alongside head coach Mauricio Pellegrino, Tamarit helped Argentinian team Lanús capture the 2025 Copa Sudamericana prior to departing for LAFC.

A UEFA Pro and CONMEBOL Pro License holder, Tamarit is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Tamarit and LAFC, which is sixth in the MLS Western Conference standings with 41 points and an 11-9-8 record, have six regular-season games remaining from Oct. 10 through Decision Day on Nov. 7, plus the MLS Cup playoffs should they qualify.

The search for a full-time replacement will continue ahead of the abbreviated MLS Sprint season, which begins in February.

​ Orange County Register 

Daxon: A blast from Brea’s Past – thanks to Wayne Wedin

• October 1, 2026

If you are relatively new to Brea, you probably haven’t heard of Wayne Wedin, who has quite a history here.

He describes much of it in his recently published book, “The Brea Dividend,” written by Wedin with author Lisa Woolery.

It is available at the Brea Museum, on Amazon and soon at Barnes and Noble, said Woolery.

Wedin recalls in his book how, in 1968 at age 28, he became Brea’s city administrator. The title later changed to city manager.

When interviewed by the City Council, he was asked one important question: “Can you get us a regional mall?” He replied, “Absolutely!”

He was hired, and set out to bring a regional mall to Brea.

Besides being Brea’s city manager for 15 years, Wedin was elected to the Brea City Council for four years, where he served as mayor for one.  Wedin was a main force that put Brea on the map to grow, and not just grow old.

When Wedin became city administrator, Homart, part of the Sears Corporation, wanted to bring a regional mall to North Orange County. So Wedin worked with them to bring the mall to Brea. They knew the 57 Freeway would eventually be built through North Orange County. It would be vital for a regional mall to be freeway close.

The ideal spot for the mall was oil property owned by Union Oil, and they were not anxious to sell.  After many meetings, Wedin and Councilman Bob Clark had a long meeting with Union Oil’s real estate executive, and Union Oil finally agreed to sell Brea the 125 acres. It was purchased by Brea’s redevelopment agency that also funded redevelopment of Brea’s downtown.

Wedin and Councilman Don Fox made trips to Homart’s Chicago headquarters to obtain a partnership agreement and negotiations continued. On one trip, Wedin wrote, Fox and Homart’s president took a long walk, after much discussion, they shook hands and a deal was made. Quite different than how things might go today.

Besides bringing a regional mall to Brea, Wedin wanted it to include Nordstrom, and Homart agreed. It was all part of his vision of the mall and the catalyst to make Brea grow, and not grow old.

A unique addition to the mall was an ice skating rink, located where the food court is now. In the book, Wedin explains how a skating rink became part of the new mall. He wrote that Homart wanted the mall to be more than stores, but a destination. The rink, he wrote, was a spot where parents could drop off the kids to skate while the parents shopped in the mall.

Today, the Brea Mall, owned and operated by Simon Property Group, now includes Check n’Play, where parents can go shopping while their kids partake in educational and fun activities while supervised by the trained staff.

The Simon Brea Mall, with approximately 180 shops and restaurants, includes several surrounding “Sunset Green” a new outdoor area, plus the Lifetime Athletic, a fitness club.

And they are not done. Now under construction near the south edge of mall is AMLI, Brea. It is an 8-story, 378-unit luxury apartment building above an 885-space parking structure. Don’t get too excited, shoppers and diners. Just 292 of those spaces are for you.  AMLI Brea expects to open in 2028.

The Brea Mall has come a long way since its beginnings in 1977.

The mall has spurred more shopping opportunities in Brea, including BOSC Partners’ Brea Plaza at Imperial Highway and the 57 Freeway.

Come to its “Bash on Brea Plaza” from 4 to 6 p.m. on Oct. 8 and celebrate the center’s huge reopening.

It starts with a Brea Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting, a scavenger hunt, giveaways and much more from Brea Plaza’s 135 shops and restaurants.

Where to shop? Brea, of course!

Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month. Contact her at  daxoncomm@gmail.com.

​ Orange County Register 

Dual UK-Iranian national arrested over security incident at US-run air base in England

• October 1, 2026

LONDON (AP) — British police have arrested a dual U.K.-Iranian national on suspicion of plotting a terror attack following a security incident at a a U.S.-run military air base in England.

The 27-year-old man was arrested in London on Thursday, and police have searched two properties in the U.K. capital.

A 26-year-old British national was interviewed by police under caution but was not arrested, Counter Terrorism Policing said in a statement.

On Sunday, five men, all in their 20s and from London, were arrested over the incident at RAF Fairford, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran. They have since been released on bail.

Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing, said the investigation “is hugely complex, and our specialist teams are interrogating multiple lines of enquiry.

“As we’ve made clear, we’re looking at all possible angles — including possible foreign state involvement,” she said.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the U.K. sees “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident. Iran denies involvement.

​ Orange County Register 

Student falls to death at Franklin High School in Highland Park

• October 1, 2026

Additional mental health professionals will be at Franklin High School Thursday, one day after the death of a student in a fall from a fourth-floor balcony at the Highland Park school.

A student, reported by multiple media outlets to be a boy, is believed to have fallen from the balcony and sustained fatal injuries at about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Citing information from the school’s principal, Marine Davtyan, a Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman told City News Service that the medical emergency required the school to be placed on lockdown.

In an email to the school community Wednesday evening, Davtyan said that she could not share additional information because of privacy and confidentiality laws and that additional mental health professionals will provide counseling and support for students on Thursday.

“We recognize that events such as this can affect students and staff in different ways. The well-being of our school community remains our top priority,” Davtyan said in a statement from an LAUSD spokesperson. “We encourage families to check in with their children and remind them that it is OK to seek support when needed.”

Students told KTLA that a fight in a classroom preceded the fall.

​ Orange County Register 

Monitoring the burrowing owl in its habitat near El Centro

• October 1, 2026

By Elmer Gutierrez | Contributing Columnist

Not every owl spends its nights hidden in the trees. Some find refuge underground and spend their days standing in the California sun.

The desert radiates heat outside our work truck as my coworker, Amy Tims, and I travel past agricultural fields stretching toward the mountains in the distance. The air conditioning is blasting, and the radio is struggling through the static. We are heading toward Rivers & Lands Conservancy conservation easements near El Centro for a monitoring visit. As we drive, I am hoping to catch a glimpse of one particular resident, the burrowing owl.

A burrowing owl can be surprisingly easy to overlook. Standing only about 7 to 10 inches tall, these small birds blend into the agricultural fields and desert landscapes they call home. Their long legs and bright yellow eyes make them unlike the owls many of us are used to seeing.

During that monitoring trip, we visited the Campo Verde, CSolar and Centinela Burrowing Owl Conservation Easements. I saw eight burrowing owls that day.

Seeing one was exciting. Seeing eight made the experience difficult to forget.

Watching them in the field gave new meaning to the monitoring work I was doing. These were no longer just photo observations recorded for a report. I was looking at the animals that these protected lands help support. The experience strengthened my passion for monitoring and protecting their habitat.

Unlike most owls, burrowing owls spend much of their time on the ground and can be active during the day. In California, they often depend on burrows created by other burrowing animals such as California ground squirrels) and San Joaquin kangaroo rats. Their burrows can also contain a few surprises. Burrowing owls sometimes place animal dung around their burrow entrances. It may seem like an unusual decorating choice, but the dung attracts beetles and other insects. The owls can then capture and eat the insects drawn near their doorstep.

The Imperial Valley has become especially important for burrowing owls. About 70% of California’s population occurs around the Salton Sea. Agricultural fields provide open areas with short vegetation for hunting, while the banks of canals and drains can provide suitable areas for burrows. Despite their ability to live in agricultural and other human-modified landscapes, populations of the western burrowing owl, a subspecies of the burrowing owl, have declined in California. Habitat loss from urban development and pesticide exposure are among the threats facing the species. These declines have raised concerns about the species’ future in California. The western burrowing owl is currently a candidate for listing under the California Endangered Species Act. Protecting remaining habitat is an important part of conserving the species.

This is where conservation easements can play an important role. Rivers & Lands Conservancy monitors three conservation easements in the Imperial Valley. These protected lands help preserve habitat within a region that supports a large portion of California’s remaining burrowing owls. Monitoring visits help document habitat conditions and wildlife observations over time.

Seeing eight burrowing owls that day transformed a routine monitoring visit into something I still think about. Each owl was a reminder that protecting open land also protects the homes and future generations of the wildlife that depends on it.

Elmer Gutierrez is a field technician at Rivers & Lands Conservancy, has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in biology from Cal State San Bernardino.

Rivers & Lands Conservancy connects our community to natural, wild, and open spaces of Southern California through land conservation, stewardship, and education.

​ Orange County Register 

Failed Tennessee execution renews the debate over death penalty methods

• October 1, 2026

By KIM CHANDLER and KRISTIN M. HALL

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee officials have yet to explain what went wrong during the failed execution of Christa Pike, which was called off after she was given two doses of the drug meant to kill her.

It wasn’t clear if Pike was still alive on Thursday. She could be heard snoring loudly in the execution chamber Wednesday night more than an hour after the execution process began and nearly 30 minutes after a second dose of pentobarbital was administered.

Pike, who was sentenced to death for a gruesome 1995 murder, was taken by ambulance from the prison to a hospital, where she was being treated, her attorneys said.

May Martinez, whose daughter was murdered by Pike and her boyfriend and who traveled to Nashville to see the sentence carried out, told NBC News on Thursday that “it was a mess.”

The failure, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Gov. Bill Lee to postpone Tennessee’s lone remaining execution this year and to order a review “to determine exactly what occurred.” It also raises questions again about the state’s procedures and its use of single-drug lethal injections.

Pike, 50, had been scheduled for execution Wednesday morning for the killing she committed at age 18 and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. An appeals court stopped the execution an hour before it was to start, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that stay hours later.

Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said in court filings late Wednesday.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.”

Tennessee changed its execution method two years ago

The state’s execution protocol calls for a secondary set of drug syringes to be administered “if the inmate is not deceased” after the first set. It does not spell out what happens if the subject is alive after the second set.

Tennessee announced in 2024 it was switching from a three-drug series for lethal injections to the single drug pentobarbital. That came more than two years after the state abruptly halted the execution of Oscar Smith and acknowledged it had failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs were tested properly.

Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what Pike experienced is “singular and unparalleled.”

Seven other people have survived medical problems due to an execution team’s failure to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one has stayed alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions, she said.

Pike would have been the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year after Florida carried out an execution on Tuesday.

Pike was awake in the execution chamber

Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, Pike described herself as at peace.

“I’m going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life and that is in love,” she said in her “last” words.

But she remained awake and at one point raised her head, asking prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way. An hour after officials first raised the execution chamber’s curtains, witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital was administered.

Pike could still be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off almost 30 minutes later.

Lawyers for Pike filed an emergency motion late Wednesday with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in “unnecessary agony” and the procedure violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment. They also filed motions with the Sixth Circuit court and a district court.

It was the second time this year that Tennessee has been unable to complete an execution: In May state officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing three people in 1994, after executioners tried and failed for over an hour to place an IV to administer pentobarbital.

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the fatal stabbing and beating in 1995 of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate at a job training facility in Knoxville. The killing gained attention because of a pentagram carved on Slemmer’s body, stoking fears of Satan worship during the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and 1990s.

Pike’s boyfriend wasn’t eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the killing and received a sentence of life in prison. He was denied parole last year.

Pike’s case renews the debate over the death sentence

Pike did not deny committing the killing, but her supporters argued that the state should consider her age at the time, her mental illness and her allegations of severe sexual abuse.

Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike’s death sentence is an outlier because other 18-year-olds in Tennessee have had such sentences vacated.

After the killing, Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In her clemency petition, she said she only wanted to fight Slemmer but killed her in a frenzied attack when she couldn’t “put the brakes on.”

“It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done,” Pike said in a statement.

Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, Ed White in Detroit, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

​ Orange County Register