FBI employees in Trump Mar-a-Lago case seek clarity on subpoenas in Florida ‘grand conspiracy’ probe

• September 24, 2026

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI employees involved in the criminal investigation into President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in a broad Florida-based conspiracy probe, their lawyers revealed Thursday as they asked a judge to clarify whether they can testify without violating an order restricting the release of information.

The subpoenas issued this month require the former FBI employees to testify in Fort Pierce, Florida, as the Justice Department pursues an ill-defined theory of a “deep state” conspiracy to deprive Trump of his civil rights and keep him from power.

The investigation so far has been focused largely on former government officials who examined ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, but the subpoenas disclosed Thursday hint at the far-reaching nature of an investigation that is also scrutinizing the FBI’s 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for classified documents.

Justice Department officials are pressing ahead with the investigation after the resignation this month of Joseph diGenova, a Trump ally who had been brought in to help lead the probe that has animated right-wing commentators who have long alleged former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.

The filing on behalf of the subpoenaed employees tees up a fresh legal question for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge who not only dismissed the classified documents prosecution of Trump but also sits in the Fort Pierce courthouse where the Justice Department has centered its yearlong conspiracy probe of Trump’s perceived foes.

Cannon last February issued an order blocking the release of a report on the classified documents investigation prepared by special counsel Jack Smith, whose team in 2023 brought dozens of felony charges against the then-Republican candidate, and barring the release of information about the case to non-Justice Department employees.

Now, lawyers for the subpoenaed former employees are asking Cannon to clarify whether that order precludes their clients from being able to testify before the grand jury since they’ll be asked about the investigation. Without clarity, they say, they may be forced to decide between being in contempt of the order if they testify, “not providing full, unconstrained testimony” if they choose to comply with the order or invoking their constitutional rights against self-incrimination.

“Specifically, Clients seek to confirm that they can freely discuss non-public information related to their work on the investigation with individuals outside the DOJ, including but not limited to the grand jury and Client’s own counsel, without running afoul of the terms of the order,” the lawyers wrote.

The filing reveals new details about the scope of the investigations and negotiations with the government.

Submitted on behalf of a group of current and former agents and analysts who participated in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, the filing says that the FBI in July and August reached out to request voluntary interviews and told the attorneys that grand jury testimony would follow those interviews.

The lawyers say newly issued subpoenas to a small group of witnesses seek testimony next week and the following week. They say the Justice Department has broached the possibility of giving immunity to the witnesses but has not formally offered that yet.

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland preps new beer garden for festival season

• September 24, 2026

A new beer garden with a covered patio under construction at the Disneyland resort is expected to be ready to start serving local craft brews when the annual festival season kicks off in November.

The new Bountiful Valley Brews beer and food kiosk will open in late 2026 at Disney California Adventure.

ALSO SEE: Last chance to buy Disneyland tickets before price increase

Disneyland filed a building permit with the city of Anaheim for a 400-square-foot service counter with a covered patio near Avengers Campus, according to Theme Park IQ.

Construction of Bountiful Valley Brews is underway along the DCA parade route in the alcove between the Carthay Circle restaurant and the Avengers Campus entrance across from the Grizzly Peak waterfall.

The flex space is often used for temporary food booths during the DCA festival season and as a treat trail stop during Oogie Boogie Bash.

The Disneyland culinary team typically dedicates a temporary kiosk to craft beer sales during the Festival of Holidays, Lunar New Year and Food & Wine Festival events that run between November and April at DCA.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland offers nearly 50% more low-priced $104 dates in 2026

Bountiful Valley Brews will likely serve as a permanent beer stand during DCA festivals and free up a temporary kiosk along the parade route to serve additional food items.

Expect the Bountiful Valley Brews beer kiosk to be finished by Nov. 13 when Disney’s Festival of Holidays food festival starts at Disney California Adventure.

Disneyland has not yet announced the beer lineup, food menu or opening date for Bountiful Valley Brews.

Recent festival beer lists have included local craft brews by Unsung and Noble Ale Works (Anaheim), Chapman Crafted and Green Cheek (Orange) and Stereo (Placentia).

Recent light bites at the festival beer booths have included Chorizo Queso Fundido, Lemon Pepper Wings and Sloppy Joe Sliders.

ALSO SEE: Downtown Disney brings back free Halloween movie nights

Bountiful Valley Brews pays tribute to the Bountiful Valley Farm that was an opening day attraction when Disney California Adventure debuted in 2001. Bountiful Valley Farm closed in 2010 to make way for Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and the rest of Cars Land.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita consensus picks for Friday, September 25, 2026

• September 24, 2026

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Eddie Wilson, Kevin Modesti and Mark Ratzky. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on opening day of the fall meet, Friday, September 25, 2026.

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​ Orange County Register 

Beach hazards statement issued for Orange County Coast and San Diego County Coastal Areas from Friday to Sunday

• September 24, 2026

Orange County Coast and San Diego County Coastal Areas are under a beach hazards statement which was issued by the National Weather Service on Thursday at 12:38 p.m. The statement is valid from Friday 5 a.m. until Sunday Sept. 27, at 5 p.m.

“Elevated surf of 3 – 5 feet with sets up to 6 feet and astronomical tides of 6.0 – 6.5 feet expected, leading to minor tidal overflow,” can be anticipated according to the NWS San Diego CA. “High tides are expected to be around 6.2 feet, gradually building over 6.5 feet by Sunday.”

“Minor tidal overflow and minor coastal erosion expected during high tides. Additionally, elevated surf will lead to strong rip currents,” according to the NWS.

For more local weather alerts, visit our Weather Advisory page

​ Orange County Register 

New firefighting fund launches but funding gap remains as wildfires worsen worldwide

• September 24, 2026

By GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA and ANTON L. DELGADO

NEW YORK (AP) — A United Nations report released Thursday shows that there is still a multibillion dollar funding gap for preserving tropical forests, which are key to fighting climate change.

A new fund that aims to raise $100 million for firefighting in South America, home to the Amazon rainforest, was announced this week at New York Climate Week and the U.N. General Assembly. But the funding excludes vast swathes of forests in Africa and Southeast Asia.

As the fund launched, wildfires spread across the Amazon during the peak of its dry season. On Wednesday, smoke blanketed the city of Manaus in Brazil, causing air quality to hit unhealthy levels, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring service.

“We’re at the possibility that we might lose the Amazon altogether, and once we lose the Amazon, we don’t get it back — the next couple of years are really going to matter,” said Kumar Garg, president of Renaissance Philanthropy, one of the groups steering the new fund.

Southeast Asia was left out of the fund, even as worsening climate change, caused by the burning of fuels like gas and oil, combined with an intensifying El Nino, have also fanned fires there.

Massive fires in Indonesia have torched large stretches of land and triggered public health concerns over toxic haze across the region.

“Forest fires are a global issue,” said Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of the Jakarta-based Center of Economic and Law Studies, or CELIOS, who said leaving out Southeast Asia is “a big mistake.”

“Many of the tropical forest regions are affected by forest fires and need international solidarity,” he said.

New fund focuses on South America

South America endured one of its most severe fire seasons in 2024, breaking records across the Amazon, the Pantanal and the Chiquitano dry forest. Authorities, researchers and donors are racing to prevent a repeat this year and next, when El Nino is expected to worsen drought and heat across the region.

The new fund aims to improve detection and response to wildfires in South America and draws inspiration from existing solutions, like a 15-year-old Indigenous fire brigade program in Bolivia and a fire-detection camera network in Brazil.

The fund, led by the non-profits Renaissance Philanthropy and Conservation X Labs, is anchored on a $30 million contribution from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and an additional $5 million commitment from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It is the latest expansion of global financing to conserve the world’s tropical rainforests, which store large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

“We have to respond to fire in South America like we would any humanitarian crisis,” said Alex Dehgan, CEO of Conservation X Labs and Renaissance Philanthropy’s South America fire fund director.

Wildfires have increasingly driven forest loss as global temperatures rise. Burning trees increases emissions, which drive hotter temperatures and make forests more prone to fire. It’s a vicious cycle.

A study published last year by the University of Maryland found that wildfires now burn more than twice as much tree cover each year as they did two decades ago, and more than three times as much in tropical forests.

Unlike other ecosystems, like savannas, rainforests are not naturally adapted to fires. Worsening droughts and rising temperatures have turned these ecosystems into tinderboxes.

“The Amazon does not burn on its own,” Dehgan said. “Nearly every fire in the basin is lit by a person, which means nearly every fire was a decision somebody made. Since humans have created the systems that drive the fire crisis, we know we can also fix it.”

Funding for forests falls short

Nearly 80% of the world’s remaining rainforests are in South America’s Amazon Basin, Africa’s Congo Basin and Southeast Asia’s island of Borneo.

Despite the role these forests play in biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and pumping moisture into the atmosphere, “they remain chronically underfinanced,” stated a report released Thursday by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Conserving and restoring tropical forests, while also developing sustainable agroforestry systems, would require an additional $66.8 billion by 2030, according to the report, which estimates that as of 2023 funding had only hit $14.6 billion.

The distribution of existing funds lacks coordination and is unequal, the study found.

The Congo Basin, the world’s largest net carbon sink, receives only 11% of international funding. Foreign aid is projected to decline another 15% this year, the report revealed.

Other forest ecosystems initiatives have struggled with fundraising.

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility, launched at last year’s U.N. climate summit in Brazil, aims to provide developing countries with funds to keep forests standing. But it is struggling to meet its initial fundraising target of $10 billion by the end of the year.

“It’s a failure of the political system,” said Lee White, one of the authors of the U.N. study and Gabon’s former environment minister.

Politics in many countries operates on four to five-year election cycles, he said, which is a short-term horizon that discourages governments from investing billions to address a problem they believe will not become severe for decades.

“Many wealthier nations believe they can adapt as climate impacts worsen, rather than investing large sums upfront in mitigation,” he said.

Forest fires intensify globally

International support for recent fires in Southeast Asia has been piecemeal. This is especially true in Indonesia, which shares the forested island of Borneo with neighboring Malaysia and Brunei.

This has been one of the worst fire seasons in Indonesian history, said Yudhistira with CELIOS, which estimates that fires from this January to August will cost Indonesia around 40 to 123 trillion rupiah (approximately $2.2 to $6.8 million) in economic and health losses.

Toxic haze from these wildfires has cancelled classes and disrupted flights in Indonesia, as well as triggered public health concerns in nearby Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines.

“The international community needs to support efforts to extinguish forest and land fires in Indonesia,” said Bambang Hero Saharjo, director of the Regional Fire Management Resource Center — Southeast Asia.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Police say gunman shouted antisemitic threat before opening fire outside Ontario synagogue

• September 24, 2026

BELLEVILLE, Ontario (AP) — A former Canadian soldier who opened fire on a police officer outside an Ontario synagogue during Yom Kippur shouted “you’re going to die for the Jews” moments before shooting, police said Thursday, declaring the attack was motivated by hate.

Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd disclosed the alleged words of 29-year-old Sean Ward as police for the first time publicly identified a motive for Sunday’s attack outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue.

“Make no mistake, this was a targeted attack against the Jewish community,” Rodd said. “The suspect had the means, the motive and the mechanisms to cause a mass casualty.”

Police played audio of the attack at a news conference Thursday that they said captured Ward shouting the antisemitic threat before opening fire on Const. Jeff Smith, who was stationed outside the synagogue.

Rodd said Smith was shot multiple times in the head and body but still got out of his vehicle and confronted the attacker, staying engaged for nearly three minutes despite suffering life-threatening injuries. A second officer arrived and joined the gunfight.

About two dozen people were inside the synagogue marking the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. None was injured.

Ward was critically wounded and died the following day. Smith, a 13-year veteran of the Belleville Police Service, remained hospitalized with serious injuries and is expected to undergo multiple surgeries.

The Department of National Defense has said Ward served as an infantry soldier with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry before leaving the Canadian Armed Forces in 2022 at the rank of corporal. He did not deploy during his service.

The province’s police watchdog previously said as many as 30 shots were fired and nearby vehicles and homes were struck.

Synagogue president Norman Weddum has said bullets pierced a window facing the street and struck the opposite wall.

The attack comes amid heightened concern about antisemitism in Canada.

​ Orange County Register 

More than 160,000 pounds of meat bearing false USDA inspection labels recalled

• September 24, 2026

By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 83 tons of meat are being recalled across the U.S. because the products were not properly inspected by federal authorities and were shipped out with falsified inspection stickers, the Department of Agriculture said.

Star Meat Delivery Inc., based in Lucama, North Carolina, is recalling more than 167,000 pounds of raw pork, beef, and goat nationwide. The USDA said that number could grow as it continues its investigation.

Food produced without inspection may contain undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria, or other contaminants, the agency said Tuesday in announcing the recall. So far, there have been no confirmed reports of illnesses or injuries from the meats, according to the USDA.

The meat in question was produced “on various dates” before Sept. 22 and has USDA inspection stickers falsely bearing an establishment number — EST. 1363 — that the agency said “does not have a federal grant of inspection.” However, some packages people purchased may not bear that labeling because retail stores may have applied their own stickers with pricing and safe handling instructions, the agency warned.

The products were shipped to Georgia distributor A&D Foods to send to retail and restaurant locations nationwide.

The USDA said the products should be considered misbranded and unsafe to eat and be discarded or returned to the place of purchase.

The agency said the problem was discovered during the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s routine checks. It’s not clear whether anyone has been arrested or criminally charged.

Star Meat Delivery, in a statement posted on its Facebook page Thursday, pushed back at the notion that the inspection stamps on its products were somehow falsified. It said the establishment number in question was “legitimately reserved” as part of the USDA application process while it seeks approval to process and package meat for the Georgia distributor.

That approval process is still underway, Star Meat said, although the meat involved was sourced from a USDA-inspected supplier.

“No other products sold by Star Meat Delivery were mislabeled, and no other products sold by Star Meat Delivery are part of the recall that has been issued,” the company said. “We are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities to finalize the application and are following the recall procedures that have been put into place.”

The USDA didn’t immediately respond to Star Meat’s statement.

Recalls triggered by forged inspection stamps are relatively rare, according to Keith Schneider, a food safety professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

“This is someone taking a shortcut,” he said. “Systems are in place to catch these sorts of things and it appears the system worked as intended. You can’t skip inspections.”

Last year, some 32,000 pounds of meat, including chorizo, pork chops and ribs, produced by Sabrositos Hondurenos, of New Jersey, were recalled after the USDA determined they had fake inspection stickers.

​ Orange County Register 

Anaheim briefs: Help get Anaheim Halloween ready

• September 24, 2026

Halloween is right around the corner, and so are the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade.

The organizers of the two popular events are looking for volunteers. Each Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. up until the events on Oct. 24, folks will be busy creating new floats and sprucing up the existing floats.  Join the fun — and they do have a lot of fun!

For more information, contact siobahn@anaheimfallfestival.org

Colonists cruise to gather

A classic car show will be hosted on Oct.  17 at Anaheim High.

There will be entertainment, food, vendors, and lots of classic cars to check out.  There will also be lots of alumni on site.

The show is looking for more classic car owners to participate. For forms or information, email anaheimalumni@yahoo.com

New Hall of Famers in Anaheim

Congratulations to Anaheim High Hall of Fame inductees.

New Anaheim High Hall of Famers were celebrated earlier this month at the newly renovated Cook Auditorium at Anaheim High School.

Distinguished inductees included: Marion Knott, Robert Fluor, Charles Pearson, Dick Baney and others.  For more information or to join the group, contact AnaheimColonists.com.

Wash ashore at Marooned at Muzeo

For one night only, the Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center becomes a shipwreck.

Marooned at Muzeo is coming on Oct. 3 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Castaways will discover an island buffet, rum tastings, live music, and a little piracy (auction) for the arts.

After the tide goes out, hear a talk from the event’s head captain, Disney historian and artist Kevin Kidney, tracing the real island, local treehouse, and the real story behind the Swiss Family Classic.  Don’t miss it!

For tickets and more information, visit muzeo.com.

The Muzeo is presenting a new exhibit from the Walt Disney Archives.

“Capturing Life, Creating Character,” about the art of live-action reference, will be on display in the Muzeo’s Main Gallery through Nov. 1.

This is a fascinating look at the pursuit of character animation through a collection of rarely seen photographs of live performers and their animated counterparts.

Another exhibit, “AnaheimLand,” is showing in the Carnegie South Gallery, also through Nov. 1. ” AnaheimLand ” draws on the deep, living connection between our city and the Disneyland Resort.  Don’t miss it.

For more information, visit muzeo.org

Show-and-tell with the Anaheim Historical Society

Take a treasure and share its history as Anaheim Historical Society reconnects with the community at its first event of the 2026-27 year.

The show-and-tell on Oct. 3 is open to residents and free to participate in. It may be a school yearbook, a program from an Anaheim sporting or cultural event or something else special to the city you would like to share.

The event will be 2 to 4 p.m. at Founders Park, 400 N. West St. For more information, call 714-765-6453. Presented by the Anaheim Historical Board.

Shop and help support the library

The Friends of Anaheim Public Library Book Sale is coming on Sept. 18 at the Central Library.

There will be books for sale, and other items too, such as jewelry, curios, knick-knacks, puzzles and more. Proceeds from the book sale directly support Anaheim Public Library programs and services.

The sale will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Central Library’s basement, 500 W. Broadway. For more information, call 714-765-1810

Film series with a Disney historian

Six days of thrills are coming to a film series at The Frida Cinema.

The Frida will be presenting an exclusive and specially curated film series, selected and hosted by renowned author and Disney historian Jeff Kurtti.  Six evenings of programs will be presented with lectures, presentations and filmmaker forums.

Movies will be “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Swiss Family Robinson,” “Saludos Amigos” and more.

The series begins at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 27 at the Frida in Santa Ana; for tickets and info, visit thefridacinema.org.

Andrea Manes shares with her neighbors events and news about the Anaheim community. If you have an event to share, contact her at andreadeemanes@gmail.com or 714-815-3885.

​ Orange County Register