Clippers can’t hold off Bucks down the stretch in loss

• February 21, 2025

By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer

MILWAUKEE — Even with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the bench in crunch time, the Clippers couldn’t hold off the Milwaukee Bucks.

Antetokounmpo scored 23 points in his return after missing six games with a strained calf and the Bucks rallied for a 116-110 victory over the Clippers on Thursday night, completing the comeback with their All-Star big man watching from the bench.

Antetokounmpo was on a minutes restriction and played just under 24 minutes, leaving for good with 6:27 remaining as the Bucks trailed 101-96. Milwaukee then completed its comeback from a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit.

Kawhi Leonard had 25 points, James Harden added 24 and Ivica Zubac had 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Clippers, who played without Norman Powell due to knee soreness.

The Clippers led 93-80 with less than 11 minutes remaining.

The game was tied at 104-all when Brook Lopez blocked a shot from Clippers guard Kris Dunn with less than 3½ minutes left. Lopez (22 points) then converted a three-point play on Milwaukee’s ensuing possession to put the Bucks ahead for good with 3:02 left.

All-Star guard Damian Lillard scored 12 of his 15 points in the last 6:48 of the game to help fuel the Bucks’ rally.

Milwaukee was missing Bobby Portis, who began serving a 25-game suspension after testing positive for the painkiller Tramadol, a violation of the league’s anti-drug program. Portis said he took the Tramadol by mistake.

TAKEAWAYS

Clippers: Harden increased his career points total to 27,005. He became the 13th player in NBA history to reach the 27,000-point mark. … Dunn had a career-high six steals.

Bucks: This was the first time Antetokounmpo played in a game with Kyle Kuzma, Kevin Porter Sr. and Jericho Sims, who were all acquired at the trade deadline. With Portis beginning his suspension, Sims made his Bucks debut and went scoreless in 17 minutes.

UP NEXT

The Clippers visit Indiana on Sunday at 2 p.m. PT.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Why Trump’s anti-Semitism crackdown should worry UC union

• February 21, 2025

Following President Trump’s executive order to combat anti-Semitism came reports that his administration has opened investigations at five U.S. universities — including at UC Berkeley. There is, unfortunately, plenty to uncover from violent student groups to passive university administrators. But investigators would be wise to also examine the role unions have played. My own lawsuit against the United Auto Workers (UAW), which represents 48,000 employees across the UC system, should be enough to raise alarm bells.

At UC Berkeley, where I am a postdoc, campus administrators were poised to break up a post-October 7, anti-Israel encampment, when the union came to its rescue. The encampment prominently displayed the inverted red triangle—the Hamas symbol used in violent propaganda videos to target Israelis—and banners reading “Glory to the martyrs” and “Student Intifada.” That didn’t deter UAW officials, who legitimized the protest by establishing a “union village” within it.

To me and other members of UC Berkeley’s Jewish and Israeli community, it was nothing short of a knife in the back. And over the next year, that knife would be twisted again and again.

When an Israeli was set to appear at a campus talk, the union allowed a member to call on others in a union meeting to “come disrupt an evil Zionist.” It also provided information and resources to Bears for Palestine, an anti-Israel student group that targeted the event, which was cancelled after vandals surrounded the venue, smashed a window, and physically assaulted Jewish students.

The union’s officials drafted a report called “Who Rules the University of California?”—echoing conspiracy theories about Jewish control of world institutions. The report ominously identified for investigation Jewish members of UC Berkeley’s Board of Regents, including Jonathan Sures whose Brentwood home was recently vandalized with red handprints by a pro-Palestine graduate student group.

The union also backed the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement by passing a formal resolution to make it a bargaining priority. UAW officials intend to cut off university relationships and funding with the slightest ties to Israel or U.S. Jewish-affiliated philanthropic organizations. This would undermine the basic tenants of academic freedom and could cause Jewish and Israeli scholars, the very people the union is supposed to represent, to lose positions and research opportunities.

I know what happened behind the scenes at the UAW because I joined the union after it made its anti-Israel views clear. Why?

Union officials said they would only engage in dialogue with dues-paying members, even though they represent all postdocs and graduate students. But instead of dialogue, I and other Israeli and Jewish union members found pervasive hostility and relentless abuse.

During a union meeting held on Zoom, a colleague whose family members were held hostage by Hamas terrorists argued against the union’s academic boycott of Israel. The attendees mocked her, and one wrote “LMFAO” (laughing my f***ing a** off) in the chat while she spoke. Union officials did nothing to stop this and other incidents of harassment targeting Jews.

My last resort was to file a federal lawsuit with the help of nonprofit law firm the Fairness Center, alleging that the UAW violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and California law by discriminating against me based on my race, religion, and nationality.

The anti-Israel sentiment at U.S. colleges and universities makes me doubt that I can continue my academic career in America. To preserve that possibility for myself and other Israeli Jews, I hope my lawsuit holds UAW officials accountable in court, and the new presidential administration recognizes the central role some unions have played in fostering a culture of anti-Semitism in the UC system and on other American campuses.

Karin Yaniv is an Israeli Jew and postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. 

​ Orange County Register 

Chargers, DB Elijah Molden agree to 3-year, $18.75M deal

• February 21, 2025

The Chargers have signed defensive back Elijah Molden to a multi-year contract extension, the team announced Thursday. The team did not disclose terms of the deal, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that it was a three-year, $18.75 million contract with $13.5 million guaranteed.

Molden, the son of former Chargers cornerback Alex Molden, was acquired in a trade with the Tennessee Titans prior to the 2024 season. Molden became a key piece of the Chargers’ secondary last season, starting 12 games after being acquired in August.

Molden played several spots in the secondary for a defense that led the NFL by allowing just 17.7 points per game. He registered career-highs in tackles (72), interceptions (three), pass breakups (seven) and fumble recoveries (two).

A third-round draft pick in the 2021 NFL Draft (100th overall), the former University of Washington standout has started 28 of the 48 games he has played in during his four seasons with the Titans and Chargers. He has 209 tackles (132 solo), 15 passes defensed, seven tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and five interceptions, including a pair returned for touchdowns.

​ Orange County Register 

Appeals court describes Huntington Beach’s voter ID law as “problematic”

• February 21, 2025

A California appeals court says Huntington Beach’s bid to create a citywide voter ID law is “problematic.”

Last year, voters in Huntington Beach approved Measure A, which called for a change in the city charter to require voter identification in city elections as soon as 2026. But California, like other states, sets voting rules, and it does not require voter ID. In April, a month after the vote, the California Attorney General filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court, seeking to block the city from moving forward on voter I.D.

The new order about the city’s voting rule, issued Tuesday, Feb. 18, by a three-judge Fourth District Court of Appeal panel, is the latest step in that broader legal challenge. It isn’t binding but it is the first indication that the city law might be struck down.

In addition to questioning Huntington Beach’s right to create voting rules, the appeals court also wants the Superior Court to reconsider an earlier ruling to effectively dismiss the case.

Specifically, the panel indicated that they disagreed with Superior Court Judge Nico Dourbetas’ ruling that the case was not “ripe for adjudication,” writing instead that the issue was a “present controversy.” The appeals court ordered the superior court to say if it will modify its dismissal and if not, the appeals court said it is prepared to take its own action in the case.

The appeals court also disagrees with Huntington Beach’s argument that it has “a constitutional right to regulate its own municipal elections free from state interference,” describing it as “problematic.”

In the state’s suit against Huntington Beach, California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the voter ID law as illegal, and said it would confuse voters and delay planning for the 2026 elections.

On Thursday, Bonta said he is encouraged by the language used by the appeals court.

“Our priority remains the same: making sure that Huntington Beach’s Measure A is struck down as quickly as possible,” Bonta said in a prepared statement.

Huntington Beach City Attorney Mike Vigliotta, who was appointed to the job on Tuesday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The appeals court gave the lower court ten days to respond. A hearing has been set for the case in superior court for Tuesday, Feb. 25.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Thursday, Feb. 20

• February 21, 2025

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Thursday, Feb. 20

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

THURSDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

SOCAL SHOWDOWN

Servite 2, Great Oak 0

Ser: Kwon (W, 4.2IP 2H 0R 4K). Cernius (Sv, 1IP 0H 0R 2K) 2H, 2R. Scott RBI.

NEWPORT ELKS TOURNAMENT

Costa Mesa 3, Portola 0

CM: Rothschafer (W, 4IP 1H 0R 5K). Jackson (Sv, 3IP 1H 0R 1K). Comte 2-3. Navarro 2-3, RBI.

Other Newport Elks scores

Crean Lutheran 6, Northwood 5

NONLEAGUE

Orange 7, Santa Ana 7

SOFTBALL

SOCAL’S FINEST TOURNAMENT

JSerra 4, Santiago/Corona 2

JS: Lamb HR. Stephens ground-rule RBI 2B. Edwards 2-3, HR, 2RBI. Escobar (6IP 2H 15K).

NONLEAGUE

Beckman 6, Northwood 1

El Modena 8, Capistrano Valley 3

Segerstrom 3, San Clemente 2

El Toro 7, Tesoro 4

Rosary 6, Yorba Linda 5

Edison 23, Laguna Hills 0

Kennedy 5, Cerritos 1

Brea Olinda 5, Valencia 1

LB Wilson 8, Katella 4

Whitney 9, Western 3

Sonora 5, St. Paul 0

Santa Margarita 3, Kapa’a 0

BOYS TENNIS

NONLEAGUE

Beckman 8, Redlands 0

Beckman 7, King 1

Oxford Academy 14, Gahr 4

Santa Margarita 10, Tesoro 8

Whitney 10, Mater Dei 8

GIRLS BEACH VOLLEYBALL

NONLEAGUE

Buena Park 5, Jordan 0

Santa Margarita 3, Huntington Beach 2

GIRLS LACROSSE

NONLEAGUE

Mater Dei 18, Chaminade 9

​ Orange County Register 

Son changes details in testimony about the night his father, an OC judge, shot his mother

• February 21, 2025

The son of an Orange County Superior Court judge on trial for murder in the shooting death of his wife told the jury a slightly different story on Thursday, Feb. 20 from the one he told investigators hours after the killing.

During the second day of Judge Jeffrey Ferguson’s murder trial, his adult son, Phillip, offered a description of an argument that night between his father and his mother, Sheryl Ferguson, and a timeline for the shooting that at times appeared at odds with the prosecution’s arguments and the son’s own earlier interviews with police.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt told jurors during the prosecution’s opening statements on Wednesday that a heated argument between the judge and his wife ended with the wife — angered at her husband pointing his finger at her to mimic a firearm — allegedly telling him something to the effect of “Why don’t you use a real gun?” and the judge immediately responding by pulling a .40 caliber Glock from his ankle holster and fatally shooting his wife.

Phillip, the couple’s then 22-year-old son, was the only other person in the room at the Anaheim Hills home when the shooting occurred, making him a key witness in his father’s ongoing trial. Speaking to a detective the night of the shooting, Phillip appeared to describe witnessing both his father pulling the weapon out of his holster and firing the gun.

“She (the mother) goes ahead and says ‘why don’t you pull a real gun on me’ or something like that,” The son said in a portion of the recorded interview played during the trial. “I turn around and that is when I see my dad pull out his gun and aim it at her and fire.”

The detective who spoke to Phillip that night also testified that the son previously described the shooting as happening immediately — “a second” — after the mother’s alleged comment about using a “real gun.”

But Phillip during his testimony on Thursday denied seeing his father actually pull the gun from the holster or aim it at his mother. The son testified that he was trying to open a sliding glass door and turned around just before the gun fired. He also described a longer delay — up to 30 seconds — between the mother’s alleged comment and the shooting.

“I saw the gun elevated in the air and saw it discharge,” Phillip testified.

It isn’t clear how the son’s testimony will play into the defense theory of the shooting. Attorneys representing Ferguson are waiting until later in the trial to present their opening statements to the jury. But other defense attorneys formerly involved in the case previously described the shooting as a “terribly unfortunate discharge.”

His parents had been arguing all evening about finances, Phillip testified, including while the three of them ate at a restaurant near their house and after they returned home to watch episodes of the television show “Breaking Bad” together in their family room.

Hunt, the prosecutor, during his opening statement told jurors that the son was so unnerved by the argument that he got up to retrieve a replica sword. But during his testimony, the son described his parents “bickering” that night, not having a shouting match. And he told the prosecutor he couldn’t recall if he grabbed the sword before or after the shooting.

“Did your dad at any time say or do anything that was threatening toward your mom before the gun went off?” Defense attorney Cameron Talley asked.

“Not that I recall,” the son responded.

“This didn’t strike you as some unusually volatile argument?”

“No.”

The son described staying with a family friend and then at a hotel in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. But Phillip — who was home from college for the summer with his parents when the shooting occurred –  acknowledged that he had since mended his relationship with his father and has lived at times with him in the Anaheim Hills home.

Immediately after the shooting, Judge Ferguson texted a clerk and a bailiff assigned to the courtroom he had presided in at the Fullerton Courthouse, telling them “I just lost it, I just shot my wife, I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.” One of the first officers who arrived at the Ferguson home testified that he heard the judge say, “I did it” and “shoot me.”

Among the many comments Ferguson was recorded saying while in police custody were remarks to himself about how he might address the jury at his own future trial.

“I killed her,” Ferguson said, in a video that was shown in court to Ferguson’s actual jury. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, convict my ass. I did it.”

Testimony in the trial resumes on Friday and is expected to continue into next week in a Santa Ana courtroom. A Los Angeles County judge is presiding over the trial, in order to avoid a conflict of interest with Ferguson’s Orange County judicial colleagues.

​ Orange County Register 

16 arrested in alleged auto insurance fraud scheme; officials warn of ‘vehicle hostage’ scams

• February 21, 2025

A probe into auto insurance fraud across Southern California has led to arrests of 16 people involved in an alleged scheme that preyed on car accident victims in the Inland Empire, and has prompted the California Department of Insurance to warn drivers about tow truck companies holding vehicles hostage for cash.

Also see: Vehicles taken ‘hostage’ in insurance fraud scheme, authorities say

The investigation began in November 2022, after a CHP officer, who was assisting a victim of a “bandit tow” to locate their vehicle, contacted the Inland Empire Automobile Insurance Task Force, the CDI said in a statement.

Investigators discovered that a non-sworn employee of the California Highway Patrol, Rosa Isela Santistevan, 56, of Irvine, allegedly was selling traffic collision reports, according to the statement. Santistevan allegedly sold these reports to the ringleader, Andre Angelo Reyes, 37, of Corona.

Reyes then allegedly passed these reports, containing personal information about accident victims, to his associate Esmeralda Parga, 27, of Pomona, officials said. The task force ultimately seized more than 3,500 CHP traffic collision report face pages from Parga’s residence.

Parga would impersonate the insurance company and contact the parties involved in the collision, authorities alleged. She coordinated having their vehicle towed to a repair center that she claimed had been approved by the insurance company.

Tow truck drivers from JR Tow in Los Angeles and B&M Tow in La Verne, who allegedly participated in the scheme, would pick up vehicles in Riverside County and tow them to Certified Auto in Buena Park, owned by Anthony Gomez, 36, of Jurupa Valley. It was not immediately known if the tow trucks were from a legitimate business, or if they drivers were operating independently.

Once the vehicles arrived, Certified Auto demanded cash payment from the insurance companies in order to release the vehicles. The American Automobile Association shared multiple auto claims in which a group of companies were transporting vehicles they insured to body shops, and keeping the vehicles until a large amount of money was paid in cash.

Search warrants revealed evidence showing the ring allegedly committed other types of insurance fraud, including collusive collisions.

The ring was accused in 2024 of similar schemes in San Bernardino County, involving two California Collision locations, in Ontario and Montclair.

The task force determined that the ring illegally collected over $216,932. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office has also charged Reyes and Diana Villa Pineda, 34, of Corona with tax evasion totalling $136,408.

In order to avoid being a victim of this scam, the California Department of Insurance urged drivers to be aware of these warning signs: a tow truck showing up within minutes of accident, even before a company was called; the two truck driver telling you which body shop the car will be taken to rather than asking where you want the vehicle to go; the tow truck driver tells you someone will contact you by phone or asks you to sign documents;the two truck driver requests a rideshare for you.

Drivers who believe they may be in a situation like this to verify the tow truck with your insurance company or wait for CHP to verify the tow truck was dispatched by CHP

​ Orange County Register 

28-year-old man pleads guilty to sexually assaulting 2 underage teens in OC

• February 21, 2025

A 28-year-old man pleaded guilty on Thursday, Feb. 20 to sexually assaulting two underage teen girls in Orange County.

Ian Carter Wallinger pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, according to court records. As part of the plea deal with prosecutors, 10 other felony sexual assault counts were dismissed and Wallinger is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28.

When he was charged in July of 2018, a prosecutor said authorities spent months attempting to track down Wallinger, who was charged then with 18 felony sex crime counts, including one count of forcible rape.

Wallinger’s city of residence was not provided. It was also unclear where in the county the crimes occurred.

The assaults on the victims who were 15 and 16 years old occurred between May and September of 2017, the prosecutor said.

The investigation began when one of the girls came forward to authorities and alleged she was raped by the defendant, according to the prosecutor.

​ Orange County Register