Live each day as if it’s the first day of your life, not your last

• March 24, 2025

“Live as if this is the last day of your life.”

That idea is supposed to be inspiring, but what a sad thought it is. To live as if everything is ending, as if there’s nothing left to explore – what a limited way to see the world.

Instead, I say, live as if this is the first day of your life. Imagine the wonder we would feel!

Think of all the things you’ve done for the first time – your first taste of chocolate, your first time riding a bike, your first time seeing the ocean. These moments live inside us, wrapped in the joy of discovery. They make us smile.

But too often, we forget that new experiences are still waiting for us. We assume we’ve seen it all, done it all, and that nothing will surprise us anymore. But that’s simply not true.

Science tells us that our brains are wired for novelty. When we experience something new, our brains release dopamine, the feel-good chemical that gives us a sense of excitement and motivation.

This is why children approach the world with such energy and curiosity. This is what gives them their incredible sense of aliveness. They are constantly encountering “firsts.”

But we don’t have to lose that as we age. We can still look at the world with fresh eyes.

What if, instead of trudging through our routines, we approached each day with curiosity? What if we walked through our familiar neighborhood as if seeing it for the first time? What if we greeted the people in our lives with the same enthusiasm as we would a new friend? Old habits and familiar places could unfold into something fresh.

Living as if it’s our last day makes everything feel like a closing door. Living as if it’s our first day opens every door wide.

The world is still full of surprises. We just have to remember to see them. We don’t need to be held back by what we saw as earlier limitations.

The world will not be the only thing we experience as new. We just might experience ourselves as being brand-new too. We will be able to see a new way, have current ideas and live to the fullest we can be. Here and now.

So, go ahead – try something new, ask a new question, take a new path. The first day of your life can be today. And tomorrow. And every day after that.

The Rev. Linda McNamar is a Laguna Woods Village resident.

​ Orange County Register 

Elon Musk is positioned to profit from billions in new government contracts

• March 24, 2025

WASHINGTON — Within the Trump administration’s Defense Department, Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocketry is being trumpeted as the nifty new way the Pentagon could move military cargo rapidly around the world.

In the Commerce Department, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service will now be fully eligible for the federal government’s $42 billion rural broadband push, after being largely shut out during the Biden era.

At NASA, after repeated nudges by Musk, the agency is being squeezed to turn its focus to Mars, allowing SpaceX to pursue federal contracts to deliver the first humans to the distant planet.

And at the Federal Aviation Administration and the White House itself, Starlink satellite dishes have recently been installed, to expand federal government internet access.

Musk, as the architect of a group he called the Department of Government Efficiency, has taken a chainsaw to the apparatus of governing, spurring chaos and dread by pushing out some 100,000 federal workers and shutting down various agencies, though the government has not been consistent in explaining the expanse of his power.

But in selected spots across the government, SpaceX is positioning itself to see billions of dollars in new federal contracts or other support, a dozen current and former federal officials said in interviews with The New York Times.

The boost in federal spending for SpaceX will come in part as a result of actions by President Donald Trump and Musk’s allies and employees who now hold government positions. The company will also benefit from policies under the current Trump administration that prioritize hiring commercial space vendors for everything from communications systems to satellite fabrication, areas in which SpaceX now dominates.

Already, some SpaceX employees, temporarily working at the FAA, were given official permission to take actions that might steer new work to Musk’s company.

The new contracts across government will come in addition to the billions of dollars in new business that SpaceX could rake in by securing permission from the Trump administration to expand its use of federally owned property.

SpaceX has at least four pending requests with the FAA and the Pentagon to build new rocket launchpads or to launch more frequently from federal spaceports in Florida and California. The FAA moved this month toward approving one of those deals, more than doubling the annual number of SpaceX launches for its Falcon 9 rocket allowed at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, to 120.

And SpaceX is pushing the Federal Communications Commission for more federal radio spectrum — its Starlink satellite service depends on radio spectrum to send signals back and forth to Earth, meaning if it gets more it can increase its profits — a move its cellular provider rivals see as a power grab. The first of those awards was approved this month, after Trump replaced the head of the FCC with a new chair, Brendan Carr, who has been supportive of Musk.

The potential new revenue stream for Musk’s company comes after he donated nearly $300 million to support the 2024 campaign of Trump as he sought a return to the White House.

Musk then persuaded Trump to put him in charge of the cost-cutting effort. From there, as a White House employee and adviser, he can influence policy and eliminate contracts.

“The odds of Elon getting whatever Elon wants are much higher today,” said Blair Levin, a former FCC official turned market analyst. “He is in the White House and Mar-a-Lago. No one ever anticipated that an industry competitor would have access to those kinds of levers of power.”

Executives at SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement that Musk, as a so-called special government employee had received briefings on ethics limits including those related to conflicts of interest and would abide by all applicable federal laws.

SpaceX had built itself into one of the nation’s largest federal contractors before the start of the second Trump administration, securing $3.8 billion in commitments for fiscal year 2024 spread over 344 different contracts, according to a tally by The New York Times of a federal contracting database.

Even if Trump had never given Musk and his employees a government role — or if former President Joe Biden had been elected to a second term — SpaceX would have continued to secure new government work. What has changed is the overall value of the work expected to be delivered to SpaceX.

Douglas Loverro, a former senior NASA and Pentagon official who also served as an adviser to the Trump transition team on space issues, said SpaceX deserved to win many of these additional contracts.

“He does have the best tech,” Loverro said of Musk. “All of this will lift the space industry as a whole, obviously — but it will certainly help SpaceX even more.”

Other government contracting experts say they remain concerned Musk is positioned to secure special favors, particularly after Trump fired officials charged with investigating ethics violations and potential conflicts of interest.

“We will never know if SpaceX would authentically win competitions for these awards because all of the offices in government intended to prevent corruption and conflicts of interest have been beheaded or defunded,” said Danielle Brian, the executive director of Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit group that tracks federal contracts.

“The abuse of power and corruption that is spreading across federal agencies because of Musk’s dual roles is horrifying,” she said.

Pentagon Rising

Even before Trump’s return, SpaceX had been working behind the scenes for several years to expand its business with the Pentagon and intelligence agencies.

It would hire former military officials who then reached back into the Defense Department to nudge former associates and friends to buy more SpaceX services.

Gary Henry, a former Air Force space and missile program supervisor, was among them. He joined SpaceX as it was developing Starship, the largest and most powerful spacecraft ever constructed.

During Henry’s tenure at SpaceX, the company secured a $102 million Air Force contract to study how Starship could deliver military cargo to points around the world within 90 minutes. Currently, that task is mostly done with the Air Force’s pack mules, C-130 cargo planes, which take much of a day for the trip.

SpaceX is still having trouble getting Starship operational. The two most recent test flights resulted in explosions that sent debris raining over the Caribbean.

Nonetheless, Henry — now back working for the Pentagon as a consultant — is promoting Starship as an option for the military.

Last month, while speaking on behalf of the Pentagon at a satellite industry conference in California, he described how Starship might be used during the Trump administration to deliver a major piece of military equipment “to any point on the planet very quickly.”

A few weeks later, the Air Force disclosed plans to build a rocket landing pad on Johnston Atoll, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, to test these cargo ship landings. The Pentagon’s initial goal: to move 100 tons of cargo per flight, a total that only Starship, at least according to its design, has the power and size to handle.

“It’s frustrating,” said Erik Daehler, a vice president at Sierra Space, which also wants to sell cargo services to the Pentagon. “Things can’t just go to SpaceX.”

Maj. Gen. Steve Butow, the director of the space portfolio at the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit, when asked by the Times about Henry’s public comments on behalf of the agency for a project he had worked on as a SpaceX employee, said: “The optics were unfortunate.”

Henry, in an interview, said the nation would benefit from tools that SpaceX and other commercial space companies such as Rocket Lab offer.

“Commercial space in general is very relevant to the problems we need to go solve,” he said. “It just turns out that SpaceX is kind of leading — it is the pointy end of the spear.”

An even bigger boost for SpaceX is likely, current and former Pentagon officials said, through a missile defense project called the Golden Dome.

For that project, Trump has ordered the Pentagon to rapidly figure out how to shoot down nuclear missiles headed for the United States, as well as strikes from lower-flying cruise and hypersonic missiles — an effort that could cost $100 billion annually, according to one estimate.

SpaceX already is positioned to handle a large share of the Pentagon’s military launch jobs in the next several years, along with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance, a consortium run by Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

A space-based missile defense system would drive launch spending even higher, as the government would need to purchase more devices to track missile threats and transmit the data to target them, services that SpaceX also provides.

Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokesperson, said in a statement that the Space Force would adhere to all laws and regulations to ensure ethical and effective partnerships, which generally require competitive bidding for new contracts.

But industry observers said SpaceX would almost certainly secure a large share of this lucrative new work.

Laura Grego, a senior researcher at the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “Golden Dome is quite an apt name, as it is certainly going to cost a lot of coin.”

Mars Bound at NASA

Trump’s nominee to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, is a billionaire entrepreneur and a space enthusiast. He paid SpaceX hundreds of millions of dollars to fly — twice — into orbit aboard a rocket.

More importantly, his payment processing company, Shift4 Payments, purchased a stake in SpaceX several years ago, an investment that generated $25 million in gains in recent years, effectively making him and Musk business partners. That SpaceX stake was recently sold, a Shift4 executive said. In ethics documents released this month, Isaacman vowed to sever any remaining financial ties he had with SpaceX.

If confirmed, Isaacman will join Michael Altenhofen, who in February was named a NASA senior adviser after 15 years at SpaceX.

NASA has already paid SpaceX more money than even the Pentagon — a total $13 billion in contractual commitments over the past decade. Those deals include hiring SpaceX to deliver cargo and astronauts to orbit and to send NASA’s biggest and most expensive probes into the universe.

Just last month, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth an estimated $100 million to launch a new space telescope that will search for asteroids that might threaten Earth.

But that is a relatively tiny chunk of how much new money SpaceX could secure from the agency in Trump’s second term.

Former NASA officials predict that Isaacman will quickly push to revamp the space agency’s Artemis project, which intends to return U.S. astronauts to the moon. That move could generate resistance — as the program has many allies in Congress.

Currently, Boeing has one of the main contracts to build the rockets for Artemis. But Loverro and other former agency officials said they expect the government to phase out this rocket, as it is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.

This will allow NASA to turn to commercial space companies such as SpaceX or Blue Origin to lift astronauts into orbit for future missions to the moon or even Mars.

Musk boasted this month that SpaceX would launch an uncrewed Starship to Mars by the end of 2026 and then send the first humans there by perhaps 2029 — an effort that he will likely push NASA to help finance. (Musk’s timeline predictions have been wrong in the past.)

Executives at Boeing and Blue Origin each declined requests for comment.

SpaceX “will almost certainly see massive new business,” said Pamela Melroy, a retired astronaut and Air Force officer who served as NASA’s deputy administrator during the Biden administration. “All of the indicators for SpaceX are trending positive.”

Bringing Broadband to Rural America

Until recently, Starlink had mostly been on the outside looking in — unable for the most part to tap into federal incentives to provide internet access to remote areas.

Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, vowed in his confirmation hearing in January to change that.

He promised to end the way the Commerce Department manages $42 billion in funding it is distributing to states to expand broadband access. The Biden administration chose to prioritize systems that wired homes directly to internet networks, rather than satellite-based systems such as Starlink.

“Let’s use satellites, let’s use wireless and let’s use fiber,” Lutnick said at the hearing. “And let’s do it the cheapest, most efficiently we can.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has often taken up battles with Washington on behalf of Musk, had already been pressuring the Commerce Department to ease grant rules to allow satellite-based broadband in rural areas, where the cost of running cable can be expensive.

Now, Cruz’s former Senate aide, Arielle Roth, who was helping with this push, has been nominated by Trump to lead the Commerce Department agency that will oversee the grant program.

The FCC has its own, smaller grant program that also provides funding to deliver broadband to underserved parts of the United States. Starlink had originally been slated to get nearly $1 billion in funding before the FCC withdrew the offer in late 2023, saying that the service did not meet agency requirements.

The commission’s board chair has now been taken over by Carr, who had protested the decision to deny SpaceX these funds. Industry analysts and two former FCC members interviewed by the Times said they now expect the agency to once again offer some of these grant funds to Starlink.

The commission also approved a SpaceX request this month, despite protests from Verizon and AT&T, to boost power on its Starlink satellites so they can provide smartphone service directly from orbit, ending cellphone dead zones for some customers.

A victory on each of these fights by SpaceX “could be huge — in the tens of billions of dollars,” said Drew Garner, a researcher at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

But at the same time, there could be long-term costs to consumers nationwide.

Monthly satellite subscription costs for consumers are higher than wired internet, in most cases. Satellite-based systems also tend to be slower compared with cables wired to the house.

“Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Evan Feinman, who led the Commerce Department’s rural broadband program during the Biden administration, wrote in an email to his colleagues this month, on the day he left the agency.

Modernizing Aviation

After a fatal midair collision between an Army helicopter and a commercial jet in January, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked for Musk’s help.

The FAA, which is trying to modernize its air traffic control and weather data systems, needed a boost in technical know-how, Duffy said.

Teams from SpaceX were brought into the agency to assist with this work.

Musk soon complained on social media that Verizon was moving too slowly on a multibillion-dollar agency contract awarded in 2023 to deliver the new technology.

“The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk,” Musk wrote on the social platform X last month.

Theodore Malaska, one of the SpaceX employees working at the FAA, was granted a special ethics waiver by the Trump administration to participate in “particular matters which may have a direct and predictable effect” on the financial interest of SpaceX, according to documents obtained by the Times.

Soon after, Malaska was boasting on X how the FAA was now building SpaceX’s Starlink satellites into agency systems that send weather data to pilots. It is a design that could bring future federal business to SpaceX.

An FAA spokesperson said that as of mid-March, only eight of the Starlink terminals were in use and Musk said they had been donated. But other Starlink terminals have recently been installed at the White House and at the offices of the General Services Administration.

“I am working without biases for the safety of people that fly,” Malaska said in a social media posting.

The overlap in these roles — Musk’s employees advising agencies while SpaceX is installing its Starlink devices at agency locations — present an ethical situation that has few precedents in modern U.S. history.

Federal rules generally prohibit awarding contracts to federal employees, including special government employees. Federal employees also are prohibited from taking actions that might benefit their own families or outside entities they have a financial relationship with.

Musk has argued he is not personally involved in pursuing SpaceX contracts. But federal contracting systems require the government to avoid not only actual conflicts of interest, but even the appearance of them.

“By any objective standard, this is inappropriate,” said Steven Schooner, a former government contracts lawyer who is now a professor studying government procurement at George Washington University.

“Given the power he wields and the access he enjoys,” Schooner added, “we just have never seen anything like this.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

​ Orange County Register 

Pope Francis makes first public appearance since falling ill 6 weeks ago

• March 24, 2025

ROME — Pope Francis, looking frail and with belabored breathing that made it difficult for him to speak, made his first appearance in more than six weeks Sunday, appearing briefly on the balcony of a Rome hospital to greet hundreds of people gathered in the square in front.

“Thank you everyone,” he said in a wisp of a voice. The pope later left the hospital to briefly stop at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which has an icon of the Virgin Mary he is devoted to, before heading to the Vatican guesthouse where he lives.

“I see a woman with yellow flowers,” Francis said during his appearance on the second-floor balcony after he was brought out in a wheelchair. “She’s good,” he said, complimenting her. He then sat and waved with both hands while people cheered and waved flags.

But after more than a month out of the public eye, Francis emerged deeply changed and diminished looking, underlining what will be a long recovery and a new phase for him and the church. It became apparent on the balcony that, for now, the Francis of old, who spoke off the cuff and made physical closeness to the faithful a hallmark of his pontificate, was transformed.

The pope’s voice was thin and raspy, which was to be expected for a patient who had suffered serious damage to his lungs and respiratory muscles, as his doctors explained at a news conference Saturday.

His appearance Sunday was met with cheers of “Papa Francesco” from the faithful outside the hospital. “Long live the pope,” someone called out.

The pope made the sign of the cross in a blessing, then was wheeled back into the hospital.

“He seems very weak, and from the news we know that he still has two months to recover fully, but even though that’s the case, we see hope in this,” said Patricia Olivera, a teacher from Portugal who was in the crowd. “This pope is our hope,” she said, to help us “get through some things that are happening in our world that are very frightful.”

Only weeks ago, there was great concern that Francis might not recover from a bout of pneumonia in both lungs and from other respiratory infections. His doctors said Saturday that the pope’s pneumonia had been so severe that it had twice put his life in critical danger.

But he received drug therapy treatment and oxygen that resulted in a “slow and progressive improvement,” allowing him to overcome the most critical episodes, said Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the leader of the medical team taking care of the pope.

As in the past six weeks, Francis did not impart the traditional Sunday Angelus blessing that he normally gives from the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

In the Angelus message, which the Vatican published online, Francis said he was “saddened by the resumption of heavy Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip, causing many death and injuries,” and he called for an immediate halt to the fighting and for dialogue to resume. He also called for peace in “tormented Ukraine,” as well as in Myanmar, Sudan and Congo.

Sister Priscilla Wangarri, a Franciscan nun from Kenya who was outside the hospital, expressed her happiness about Francis’ recovery. She said she had been attending nightly rosaries in St. Peter’s Square to pray for his health. “We love him because the church needs him. He has to shepherd his people,” she added.

After leaving the hospital, Francis went to Casa Santa Marta, the guesthouse where he lives, to convalesce for another two months. His doctors said Saturday that Francis should avoid unnecessary exertions and meetings with large groups or people with small children, to minimize the potential for further infections.

Dr. Luigi Carbone, Francis’ Vatican-based doctor, said the pope’s residence was sufficiently equipped to deal with his medical needs.

Francis entered the hospital Feb. 14 with an acute respiratory insufficiency from viral and bacterial infections.

Francis remained in critical condition for several weeks as he experienced an asthmatic respiratory crisis; initial, mild kidney failure; and a bronchial spasm that caused him to inhale his vomit after a coughing fit. He used noninvasive mechanical ventilation during the night and high-flow oxygen therapy during the day.

Doctors insisted that Francis, who had kept up a grueling schedule before his illness, needed to take it easy for at least two months.

“Convalescence is by definition a phase of recovery, so it is clear that in the period of convalescence, he will not be able to carry out his daily activity of meeting with people as he was used to,” Carbone said.

Carlos Aguirre, a construction worker from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who came to the hospital as part of a group of Catholic pilgrims from the United States, said he was happy to see Francis on the mend. “It’s God’s will. If he’s coming out, it means that God still has a plan for him,” he said.

​ Orange County Register 

Democratic leader Chuck Schumer: ‘I’m not stepping down’

• March 24, 2025

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says he won’t resign his post, despite pressure from some in his party after he voted to move forward with a Republican spending bill that avoided a government shutdown.

“Look, I’m not stepping down,” Schumer said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday. The New York senator said he knew voting for the bill backed by Republican President Donald Trump would spark “a lot of controversy.”

“I did it out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was,” he said. “People disagree.”

Democrats last week were confronted with two painful options: allowing passage of a bill they believe gave Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or letting funding lapse. After Schumer said he’d vote to advance the spending measure, 10 Democrats supported breaking the party’s filibuster and allowing the bill to pass.

Schumer’s move has sparked outrage from some Democrats and progressive activists who protested at his office and called on him to resign his position. They said they’d like to see him face a primary challenge — perhaps from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The uproar prompted Schumer last week to postpone his book tour amid a series of planned progressive demonstrations.

Schumer isn’t up for reelection until 2028. He told NBC that the spending bill that funds the government through September was “certainly bad.”

But he argued that not voting to provide the funding would have been “15 or 20 times worse.” He called his action “a vote of principle,” arguing that “sometimes when you’re a leader, you have to do things to avoid a real danger that might come down the curve.”

In an interview that also aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Vermont Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized Schumer and other members of Democratic Senate leadership. But he abruptly ended the interview when asked about Ocasio-Cortez potentially being elected to the Senate.

“I don’t want to talk about inside-the-beltway stuff,” Sanders said.

Another outspoken progressive, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “There is no doubt that there is anger there, and people were very, very disappointed in the Senate.”

Khanna said the anger stemmed from Senate Democrats not seeking concessions for their support of the GOP-backed spending package — including possible limits on government spending and job cutting efforts being led on Trump’s behalf by billionaire Elon Musk.

Asked if he’d support Ocasio-Cortez challenging Schumer during a 2028 Democratic Senate primary in New York, Khanna said the decision to run was up to the congresswoman.

“I haven’t talked to her directly,” Khanna said.

He added: “But here’s what I will say: The American people are fed up with the old guard. There needs to be a renewal.”

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers looking to get ‘reconnected’ as playoff push tightens

• March 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Despite suffering one of their worst losses of the season – and their worst since consistently starting to play at a championship-contending level over two months ago – coach JJ Redick wanted to provide his group with grace.

But he also wanted to make sure it was understood the Lakers don’t have time to waste.

Redick knew his players were unlikely to immediately recapture the rhythm they were playing with from a few weeks ago when they won 20 of 24 games from Jan. 15 to March 6 – including 7-2 when Luka Doncic played.

It’ll take time to build chemistry and familiarity after having just a handful of games with Doncic playing before multiple starters missed time with injuries – including LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, both of whom made their returns in Saturday’s 146-115 home defeat to the Chicago Bulls.

“The thing that we have talked about all season long, though, is grace,” Redick said. “And so the group inherently gets some grace for what this last three weeks has looked like. And it’s not an excuse. It’s just the nature of where a group felt very connected and then you lose some games on the road, you have some injuries, all that stuff.”

The problem for the Lakers is that they don’t have much time left before a potential playoff run.

After the loss to the Bulls, in which the Lakers allowed their most points in a game this season and the most in a non-overtime home game in franchise history, the Lakers have 12 games remaining in the regular season’s final three weeks.

Eight of those 12 games will be on the road, starting with Monday’s matchup against the Orlando Magic that kicks off a four-game trip.

“You gotta get reconnected,” Redick said. “We’ll get there. We, however, don’t have a lot of time to do that. And it’s gotta be now.

“It can’t be in a week. It can’t be in two weeks. it’s gotta be now. It’s gotta be Monday morning in our film session, in our walkthrough for Orlando.”

At the forefront of the Lakers’ hopes of becoming reconnected is their push for a spot in the playoffs.

They entered Sunday at the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference standings with a 43-27 record, 2 ½ games behind the No. 2 Houston Rockets, a half-game behind the No. 3 Denver Nuggets, a half-game ahead of the No. 5 Memphis Grizzlies and 2 ½ games ahead of the No. 6 Golden State Warriors.

The top six teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs outright, with seeds 7-10 in each conference competing in the play-in tournament for seeds Nos. 7 and 8.

“We got 12 games to position ourselves in the postseason,” James said. “We pretty much can control our own destiny if we win ball games and not have to be in the play-in. That’s what JJ has been preaching, obviously, he told that to you guys. He wants to be in the playoffs and not the play-in. So that’s up to us.”

But with only a few weeks left in the season, it’s unlikely the Lakers will be able to build up their continuity to the level of the teams in the West around them in the standings that’ve had the same core for multiple years.

Austin Reaves feels the Lakers can fast-track their process with communication on and off the floor.

“Talk to one another,” he added. “That’s really…we can watch as much film as we want to watch to help that way. Communication amongst everybody on the team is going to play a big role in that. We’re not going to be on court practicing. So we have to communicate. If it’s on flights, talking about what we can do to be better, that’s what it’ll be.”

LAKERS AT MAGIC

When: Monday, 4 p.m. PT

Where: Kia Center, Orlando, Fla.

TV/radio: NBA TV, Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM

​ Orange County Register 

‘Banged up’ Watkins, USC women face Mississippi State in NCAA Tournament second-round game

• March 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES — While it appeared JuJu Watkins sustained a few injuries during the USC women’s basketball game in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, when asked about it post-game, she would neither confirm nor deny it.

“Hmmm,” she said, scratching her chin and glancing at the ceiling. “I don’t know. It’s the end of the season, body’s a little banged up, but onto the next. Nobody really cares.”

Watkins knows all eyes are on her, always. Opponents, rivals, future defensive assignments, the media, even Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. This is no time for signs of weakness.

Not when the first-seeded Trojans (29-3) are set for a second round matchup with ninth-seeded Mississippi State (22-11) on Monday, at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center for a chance to play in the Sweet 16 in Spokane.

So, while she grabbed her left hand in the first half, came out of halftime with a wrap around her ring and middle finger, and left the game, briefly, after turning her left ankle, Watkins made sure to show no sign of lasting effects.

She joked on the bench with teammate Kayleigh Heckel as the reserves closed the Trojans 71-25 win over UNC Greensboro, and was seemingly still getting to the punch-line as she and Heckel bounded into the locker room and giggled throughout the press conference.

Whether it was the injury or the scoreboard, Watkins played fewer than 30 minutes for the first time since Jan. 26, and USC won with its defense. Two factors that will give the Trojans confidence moving forward as the team’s offense, and Watkins’ individual scoring punch, should not be a problem.

The Trojans will have another challenge with Mississippi State’s defense as the Bulldogs allowed UC Berkeley just 46 points on Saturday. On the season, the Bulldogs concede 63.2 points per game.

Offensively, they’re led by a dynamic guard duo of Jerkaila Jordan and Eniya Russell. Jordan averages 15.9 points per game, while Russell contributes 11.7 to go with a team-high 3.4 assists.

Forward Madina Okot is third in the SEC in rebounds per game (9.7) and had a 14-point, 13-rebound performance on Saturday.

Her matchup with USC post Rayah Marshall will be a physical one as Marshall, too, is a bruiser, who had a career-high seven blocks against UNC Greensboro.

“She really is the anchor of our team,” Trojans forward Kiki Iriafen said on Saturday. “There’s no us without Raya. I think she’s such an unsung hero for this team.”

Iriafen continued to explain how Marshall resurges their offensive flow when they fall stagnant, which was the case with Iriafen on Saturday. She went just 1 of 5 from the field and committed four turnovers in the first half. Her shots looked rushed, her post moves clunky. But she, eventually, found that flow, scrapping for hustle points on the offensive glass and scoring in transition to finish with 13 points.

Iriafen has struggled, at times, throughout this season adapting to coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s fast-paced scheme, so her offense suddenly sparking to life isn’t as much of a given as Watkins’ is.

Still, she expressed confidence that she’ll find her rhythm down the stretch and said that she can “play carefree” when her teammates are clicking like they were on Saturday. It’s that last part that gives this USC team a different feel.

It can win in different ways, with different players starring in their roles.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels acquire Ian Anderson from Braves for José Suarez

• March 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The Angels acquired right-handed pitcher Ian Anderson from the Atlanta Braves on Sunday in exchange for left-hander José Suarez.

Anderson, 26, underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 and has not appeared in a major-league game since 2022. He was competing for a spot in the Braves’ starting rotation and pitched three innings Sunday in a spring training game against the Baltimore Orioles.

Angels manager Ron Washington said Anderson will begin the season in the bullpen, but he could be called upon to start if the situation arises.

“Before he got hurt, he was an up-and-coming, pretty good pitcher. I don’t think he lost the ability to pitch. We were left-handed heavy in our bullpen and this gives us another opportunity to get another right-hander in there,” Washington said. “Right now it’s the bullpen and I think as we go through the season, that will play out the way it’s supposed to play out.”

Anderson debuted with the Braves as a 22-year-old during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020. He was excellent in his first two seasons with a 3.25 ERA in 30 starts with 165 strikeouts in 160⅔ innings. Anderson made 15 minor-league starts in 2024 and had a 3.44 ERA with 68 strikeouts in 68 innings.

Suarez, 27, debuted with the Angels in 2019 and appeared in 99 games with 61 starts. He appeared in 22 games in 2024 with a 6.02 ERA and started the last two games.

Suarez had a 6.55 ERA in 11 innings with the Angels during spring training and allowed one run in 1⅓ innings on Friday against the Colorado Rockies.

He lost 20 pounds this offseason and had a rejuvenated mindset after being designated for assignment midway through the 2024 season. Suarez was competing for a spot in an Angels’ bullpen that was left-handed heavy with Jose Quijada, Brock Burke, newly acquired Angel Perdomo, Rule 5 pick Garrett McDaniels and potentially Reid Detmers.

“The Braves are getting a bulldog. We are going to miss Suarez,” Washington said. “I’m not taking anything from Suarez saying, ‘he was no good for us, that’s why we traded him.’ We do what we do to make us better and he just happened to be the guy we made the trade for. Atlanta probably needed him and we felt we needed Ian Anderson.”

NETO RAMPING UP

Shortstop Zach Neto stayed back in Tempe, Arizona, for extended spring training to continue his rehab from shoulder surgery this offseason.

He has made significant progress and has been hitting and throwing everyday as of late.

“He’s not ready to come up and play for us yet, but if you were with Neto from day one in spring training, you would think he is (ready) the way he went about his business,” Washington said. “He has to get stronger and stronger. He’s able to throw with no problem, but he’s not ready to go at game action. We are just going to keep the progress going and we have no date for when he’s going to arrive.”

Washington said Neto will appear in minor-league games prior to rejoining the Angels.

MONCADA STILL NOT READY

Third baseman Yoán Moncada has been out with a bruised right thumb since March 12 and is still not hitting or throwing.

Moncada was in uniform during batting practice on Sunday with a brace on his right thumb. Washington is still hopeful that Moncada will be able to play on Opening Day on Thursday against the White Sox in Chicago.

“He’s feeling better everyday. He feels like he’s going to be ready for Opening Day but we have to go through our medical people for that,” Washington said. “Our fingers are crossed that he makes it opening day, but I can’t give an answer whether he will or he won’t.”

Moncada appeared in just 12 games last season for the White Sox after suffering an adductor strain in April. Washington said Luis Rengifo will play third base on Opening Day if Moncada is not available.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Tyler Glasnow, 9-6, 3.49 ERA in 2024) at Angels (TBD), Monday, 6:07 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers name Blake Snell as starter for home opener

• March 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Blake Snell’s long and winding road during his first spring with the Dodgers has led to an assignment as the starter in the home opener on Thursday against the Detroit Tigers.

Manager Dave Roberts announced the decision before Sunday night’s Freeway Series exhibition game against the Angels, with right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki also expected to start against the Tigers, in that order.

“Blake chose to be a Dodger for various reasons and for him to start a home opener here at Dodger Stadium, I think it’s just something else that he can add to his already great career,” Roberts said.

Snell, who agreed to join the Dodgers in November on a five-year, $182 million contract, made two Cactus League starts in Arizona, had one appearance in an exhibition game at Japan then pitched in a simulated game on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

The most recent appearance, inside of an empty stadium, ended up being the one that resonated the most.

“Everything kind of came together in the sim game,” Snell said. “I finally felt like the curveball looked like the fastball (out of hand) and located it way better. The movement I really liked. The changeup’s better than what it was in the start in Tokyo. I knew it was going to be there but just to see it, I was very excited.”

As circuitous as his route was to his first outing of the season, it is far better than it was last season when Snell signed late with the San Francisco Giants, then didn’t make his season debut until April 8. He went on the injured list after three starts with an adductor strain and was 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA into early June before turning around his season.

He expects a smoother transition to a new team this time around.

“I’m beyond excited,” Snell said. “The first two (regular-season) games we played, we didn’t have Mookie (Betts) or Freddie (Freeman). The team, we can hit top to bottom. … I’m very excited and can’t wait to feel the atmosphere. I felt it on the other side and really can’t wait to know what it’s like to be a Dodger and be supported by the fans.”

BETTS STILL ON PAUSE

The Dodgers had Betts in the starting lineup for Sunday’s game against the Angels, but he was a late scratch as he continues to recover from a stomach virus.

Betts fell ill when the team was still in Arizona, traveled to Japan anyway and returned to Los Angeles before the first pitch of the short series in Tokyo. Before Betts was scratched Sunday as the shortstop and No. 2 hitter, Roberts admitted his star player’s recovery still was ongoing.

“He still hasn’t regained the weight he lost,” Roberts said. “We just feel that he’s recovering and feels stronger than he did.”

Freeman was in the starting lineup and set to make an abbreviated appearance against the Angels after missing the opening two games against the Chicago Cubs with a rib cage strain.

“The last couple of days (Freeman) feels really good; he doesn’t feel anything,” Roberts said. “I do think it’s something we’ve got to make sure to monitor, but he wouldn’t be out there if we didn’t feel confident he was on his way back.”

FINAL FIVE

With Snell, Yamamoto and Sasaki pitching in the opening series against the Tigers, the season debut of starters Tyler Glasnow and Dustin May will be moved to the home series against the Atlanta Braves next week.

Glasnow missed the final month and a half of the regular season last year, as well as the World Series title run with elbow tendonitis, while May is returning from Tommy John surgery, as well as a tear in his esophagus.

“Pushing (Glasnow) back just made the most sense,” Roberts said, saying he wanted to get Yamamoto and Sasaki back to the mound without too much time between their starts in Japan.

ALSO

Shohei Ohtani continues to play catch as he ramps up for a return to the mound this season, with Roberts saying the right-hander will return to bullpen sessions “in the coming days,” after they were halted in advance of the opening series against the Cubs. … Right-hander Evan Phillips (shoulder) pitched to hitters Saturday and will pitch again this week before joining extended spring training at Arizona on Friday. … Right-hander Tony Gonsolin is scheduled to face hitters in Arizona on Monday as he builds himself back up after back injury earlier this month.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Tyler Glasnow) at Angels (TBD), Monday, 6 p.m., SportsNet LA, FanDuel Sports Network, 570 AM, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register