Sandwiches to socialism: How a DSA chapter in Austin is building political power

• October 8, 2026

By JESSE BEDAYN

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — When the socialists filed into the pews of a church sanctuary in Texas, there were far more than would have attended just two years ago.

But that was before members of the Democratic Socialists of America were winning congressional primaries, and the acronym “DSA” became a fixture on television news chyrons. And before Democrats began arguing about whether to court or rebuke this movement, and President Donald Trump started to complain about the threat of “godless communists.”

For many across the country, it all seemed to happen rather quickly, a political movement fresh off the bench that would, depending on who was asked, either uplift the working class or usher in Stalinism.

But for some in that church, none of this was quite so surprising. The Austin DSA, like many of the 250 chapters spanning the country, has spent years marshaling its members’ earnestness, and their willingness to volunteer dozens or hundreds of hours, into a local movement with an eye toward national power.

They say that achieving their more distant goals — like abolishing prisons and achieving universal health care — starts with street protests and electing city council members. Although the progressive city of Austin was already fertile soil for a socialist chapter, the group’s recent growth has mirrored a broader expansion as nationwide DSA membership more than doubled to 126,000 in the past two years.

“We put in our sweat equity, we’ve put in time, we have put in dollars,” said Nathan Fernandes, speaking to the group gathered in the cavernous church. “We make the DSA difference ourselves because special interests can buy elections, but people can’t buy what we have.”

A Starbucks boycott was on the menu

The evening meeting started with detailed training on how to observe and take video of immigration enforcement — “film horizontally” — and a presentation on getting the word out about a boycott of Starbucks to support the baristas’ contract negotiations.

Then spoke Misael Ramos, a DSA member and candidate for Austin City Council, who was followed by an announcement that the chapter had knocked on roughly 7,000 doors for his campaign. Another canvass was around the corner.

When that day arrived, two newer DSA members, Mark Ramirez and Clarisse Manuel, showed up to learn that their candidate, Ramos, had been arrested that morning for participating in a protest over the shooting of a Venezuelan man by a federal immigration agent. Ramos is fighting the misdemeanor charge.

In recent years, Ramirez, a 28-year-old software engineer, had felt frustrated by the ills of the world, particularly immigration crackdowns but also homelessness, the war in Gaza, medical debt in America, and the list went on. Doomscrolling into a depression felt inadequate.

The Democratic Party was “captured by corporate interests,” said Ramirez, sitting at a picnic table, but the DSA offered something beyond handwringing. It tracked ICE raids, mounted a campaign to remove automated license plate readers in Austin, organized with labor unions and its members routinely donated their time and money to make hundreds of sandwiches for people in need.

“Healthcare, food and housing are things that everybody needs, and we have millions of times the productive force to meet all of those people’s needs,” Ramirez said. But as a society, “we choose not to.”

The DSA chapter’s gumption offered an antidote for Ramirez, who was one of roughly 700 people who signed on in the last year, growing their ranks by more than half.

“It is on me, and I think it’s on everybody, to resist,” he said. Manuel, 25, said members are showing what “can be achieved if we have a mass movement.”

Socialism finds significant support among Democrats

Back in the church sanctuary, Ramos revved up the audience.

“If you believe housing is a human right, say ‘Yeah!’” he shouted. “If you believe in a free Palestine and abolishing ICE, say ‘Hell yeah!’”

An AP-NORC poll conducted in September found that about one-quarter of U.S. adults consider themselves a supporter of democratic socialism, which is similar to how many say they back President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

Democrats have warmed to the concept of socialism over the past 15 years, according to polling from Gallup. About two-thirds of them had a positive view of socialism in an August poll, up from 50% in 2010. Over the same period, Democrats have soured on capitalism. Only about one-third of them had a positive view of capitalism this year, down from about half in 2010.

Although Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has long identified as a democratic socialist, the DSA movement shifted up a gear after the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor a year ago. Months later, more such candidates won Democratic congressional primaries in New York, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

Sitting at a folding table in a nearby communal room after his speech, Ramos said he tries to bring lofty and longer-term goals — housing for everyone, defunding the police — down to earth while running for office. For example, he talks about using city land for affordable housing or diverting police funding to mental health responders.

It’s one way that Ramos tries to cut through the tumult over DSA’s national platform, which includes doing away with the Senate, drafting a new constitution, taking steps toward abolishing police and prisons and, in the long run, “building a new society from the ground up” to create a “real democracy.”

Republicans are quick to brand the movement as communism

Such goals have caused consternation in both parties. Republicans are dubbing the midterms as a choice between “common sense and communism,” while Democrats fret over voters recoiling from more radical ideas.

Meira “Gumbo” Vedros, co-chair of the Austin DSA chapter, tempered the idealism in an interview.

“Abolish is not ‘get rid of this and start from scratch,’” said Vedros, 29. And it’s “not saying that we have the answers, but saying, ‘Hey, we know this is in the way of the working class having a better life, and we can find the answers together.’”

Not all DSA candidates subscribe to the entirety of the platform. And the contours of a socialist future are fuzzy, changing depending on who is asked. Debate continues among the members, facilitated by DSA chapters’ own form of direct democracy, where everyone has a vote.

“Myself and most of the people I organize with don’t often think that we will live to see the fruits of our labor,” Vedros said, “and we don’t have a perfect idea of what an ideal society looks like. But we can ‘rehearse’ what we think would be better right now, and rehearse a better world by being better to each other.”

As the church meeting ended, those gathered stood and sang together over a twangy rendition of “Solidarity Forever.”

​ Orange County Register 

Trump plans to honor Microsoft’s CEO after Vance drops an H-1B visa hammer on the company

• October 8, 2026

By JOSH BOAK and ALI SWENSON

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump planned to celebrate tech billionaires such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Thursday, only to get upstaged hours before the event when Vice President JD Vance announced that Microsoft was being suspended from a program that allows companies to apply for green cards for skilled foreign workers with H-1B visas.

The crackdown on Microsoft came under Vance’s purview as the head of a fraud task force, but the targeting revealed the tension between the companies powering U.S. economic growth and the administration’s efforts to reduce immigration that it says has come at the expense of American workers.

“Our message to Microsoft is: You’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance told a news conference. He said the company had abused the visa system. “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”

Vance said Microsoft last year fired 6,000 U.S. workers but also obtained 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. The tech company based in Redmond, Washington, has 223,000 employees worldwide. Microsoft has not commented on the allegations.

Of the six tech leaders slated to receive an award from the president, five are immigrants.

The president will hand out the National Medal of Science to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Lisa Su, CEO of the semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices. Each of them was born overseas — South Africa for Musk, Russia for Brin and Taiwan for Huang and Su.

Trump will also give the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Nadella and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, who has sponsored the government’s special investment accounts for children known as Trump Accounts. Dell was born in Texas, while Nadella immigrated from India.

The honors — part of a summit celebrating a new “golden age” of science — build on Trump’s already lavish praise toward the entrepreneurs for their work accelerating the development of artificial intelligence technology, which he refers to as super intelligence. He has increasingly counted on the technology to deliver on his economic agenda and pushed for the U.S. to lead its development while resisting calls for guardrails that he worries will stifle growth.

Past winners of the National Medal of Science, which was established in 1959, have mainly been academics and research scientists rather than business leaders. The ceremony honoring the business leaders overlaps with the awarding this week, separately, of Nobel Prizes.

The tech leaders have been frequent visitors to the White House in recent weeks. Musk, Huang and Su sat at the head table with Trump at the lavish state dinner for China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Also attending were Brin, Nadella and Dell, who on Wednesday was in the Oval Office to talk about Trump Accounts.

Last week, Huang and Musk were among the tech leaders at the White House to sign a voluntary agreement on developing AI after recent models raised national security and safety concerns.

With November’s midterm elections less than a month away, Trump has also sought to drive home to voters how investment in AI data centers and related computer equipment has helped to boost a record-high stock market, swelling the net worth of wealthier Americans. But the message hasn’t always landed. Polls show bipartisan concerns about AI developing too quickly, and high costs for everyday items like gas and groceries are dampening the economic outlook for many Americans.

Vance also said that several universities including Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology should be investigated for visa fraud. Huang and Brin have degrees from Stanford and Su has multiple degrees from MIT.

The White House praised the contributions of Thursday’s honorees.

“These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation,” said Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson.

​ Orange County Register 

Here, try this: Heritage Barbecue breakfast taco at True Love Coffee Co.

• October 8, 2026

Few savory morning foods elicit the kind of elation that eggs, cheese and meat tucked into a tortilla can provide. While Orange County has a bevy of breakfast burritos, a smaller specimen warrants your attention: Heritage Barbecue’s Texas-style breakfast taco available at True Love Coffee Co. in San Juan Capistrano

A staple of Texas mornings, breakfast tacos have deep roots in San Antonio and the Lone Star State’s southern reaches. (Despite published claims to the contrary, the Tex-Mex conception of “breakfast tacos” did not originate in Austin; and eating tacos for breakfast has a far longer history in Mexico.) They typically feature a soft flour tortilla folded around a few or a slew of fillings like scrambled eggs, bacon, chorizo, potatoes and/or cheese, for example. Generally smaller than a breakfast burrito, the taco is folded around its contents rather than rolled into a tightly sealed parcel. Voilà, a taco fit for the forenoon hours.

Heritage’s version at the cafe comes with a decent helping of the Central Texas-style barbecue joint’s brisket, fluffy eggs and a slip of cheese. The brisket is smoked for 12-14 hours over California white oak, a considerable amount of work before the meat makes it to breakfast time.

Said brisket offers a smokiness I didn’t know I needed in my morning fare. The combination keeps the ingredient list short and gives the tender beef top billing. And while the taco doesn’t have the girth of Orange County’s more imposing breakfast burritos, a morning feast needn’t always be the size of a forearm to grab your attention especially with this brisket involved.

Let this be a Bat Signal for more breakfast tacos in Orange County. Perhaps from a dedicated breakfast taco spot, like HomeState, which, at one point, was slated to open in Old Towne.

Word to the wise: These breakfast tacos ($7 a pop) are available only Wednesday through Sunday. Do come sooner rather than later; a True Love Coffee Co. employee said that these tacos tend to sell out by mid- to late-morning.

Find it: True Love Coffee Co., 32122 Camino Capistrano, Suite 100, San Juan Capistrano, truelovecoffee.com

​ Orange County Register 

Wallflowers to celebrate 30th anniversary of ‘Bringing Down the Horse’ in LA

• October 8, 2026

By Ed Condran, contributing writer

A huge part of the appeal of Jakob Dylan’s tremendous documentary on the vibrant Laurel Canyon music scene, “Echo in the Canyon,” is the pure, unadulterated fandom that drove the project.

Dylan is obviously a huge aficionado of the Southern California sound of the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield and the Mamas and the Papas, which changed the world of music. Arguably, the film’s highlight is Dylan’s interview with Tom Petty.

Dylan’s chat with Petty, which was the late recording artist’s last interview, is revealing. Petty came across as the ultimate fanboy when Dylan asked the late legend about the impact the Byrds had on him in 1965.

“Tom never lost that adolescent spark when it came to music,” Dylan said during a phone interview from Los Angeles. “We were so fortunate to be able to speak with him since he spoke as a student of the music, not one of the giants of the industry. It was fun speaking with him in a guitar shop for two hours after it closed and having him mess around with guitars and amps.”

Dylan, 56, remains a huge Petty fan. Even though Dylan’s Wallflowers are on a jaunt marking the 30th anniversary of its breakthrough album “Bringing Down the Horse,” the tour is just as much about Petty’s overlooked 1982 album, “Long After Dark.” The band will play the Orpheum Theatre in L.A. on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Both albums will be played from start to finish. Dylan and his band play as much Petty as Wallflowers material. Good for Dylan, since Petty passed away in 2017 and the Heartbreakers don’t appear likely to reunite. Petty’s lifelong friend and bandmate, keyboardist Benmont Tench can’t imagine dusting off the tunes the band played with his iconic pal.

“Not having Tom as the engine for the vehicle makes it something I can’t imagine,” Tench said. “I think it would make me sad to walk into a room and see everybody but him and start playing those songs.”

So the Wallflowers breathe life into a beloved catalog and the bonus is that a light is shined on an album that is overlooked. “Long After Dark” followed Petty’s incredibly successful “Damn the Torpedoes” and “Hard Promises” albums. “Long After Dark” includes the synth-driven “You Got Lucky” and the jangle-heavy “Change of Heart.” It’s a solid album that slipped through the cracks.

“Long After Dark” was released just as Dylan turned 13 and became obsessed with music.

It was during the ’80s that Bob Dylan’s son was compelled to become a musician. Dylan’s adolescent pals were huge music fans, but they ultimately didn’t commit to life as musicians. However, it was different for Dylan. There was no other career path for him.

“It’s no secret how I grew up,” Dylan said. “I grew up with kids who were creative back in the ’80s. My friends took guitar and piano lessons. But their parents eventually told them to focus on something serious. I never got that memo. I’ve been fortunate enough to do what I love. It’s so significant. Kids dream about becoming musicians. I don’t think there are any eight-year-olds who dream of working in a tower. It would be a shame to go through life and never try to do what you’re passionate about.”

Dylan tried and succeeded with the Wallflowers’ second album, 1996’s “Bringing Down the Horse.” Such hit singles as “One Headlight,” “6th Avenue Heartache,” “The Difference” and “The Three Marlenas” enabled the album to sell more than four million copies.

Dylan was in that mid-20s sweet spot when he crafted “Bringing Down the Horse.” Six Wallflower albums later, Dylan is middle-aged, but remains vibrant and inspired.

Why shouldn’t he be, since a number of aging songwriters, such as Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Dylan’s father, are releasing fine work during the twilight of their careers? Bob Dylan’s “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” which was created just before Dylan reached octogenarian status, is one of his greatest albums.

“I’m not surprised by that,” Dylan said. “It’s wisdom through experience. There’s no reason why you can’t get better as a songwriter. However, rock and roll is a young man’s game. There’s nothing like that youthful exuberance you have as a 20-year-old. That never happens again. That’s the privilege of that age. You don’t know anything yet. That’s why some of the most exciting music comes from kids who are so young.”

The younger Dylan hasn’t changed much over the years. He never goes through the motions onstage or during interviews, which is reminiscent of Petty, who was his father’s bandmate in The Traveling Wilburys.

“It’s true since some people do (go through the motions) but he didn’t,” Dylan said. “I remember being on the road with Tom and the Heartbreakers. I watched Tom rest up against an amp and just close his eyes and shake his head to the music. Tom was never ambivalent, bored or pandered to an audience. He was locked in onstage. They don’t make them like Tom anymore.”

Dylan is doing what he can so Petty’s music continues to be heard from the stage. “I’ve loved playing Tom’s songs for years,” Dylan said. “I’m a fan and that’s a good thing.”

​ Orange County Register 

New US indictment charges former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with torture

• October 8, 2026

By PHILIP MARCELO, MICHAEL R. SISAK AND JOSHUA GOODMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. authorities added new torture charges Thursday to their case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, ramping up pressure on the ousted authoritarian leader already fighting drug trafficking offenses.

Maduro, who was previously charged with participating in a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S., is now also facing allegations of human rights abuses during his time as president of the oil-rich South American nation.

“He authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, arbitrary detention and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition,” says the revised indictment, which newly charges Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, with torture conspiracy.

The allegations include electric shocks, beatings and asphyxiation at Maduro’s behest.

Asserting that thousands of Venezuelans were “harassed, threatened, arrested, prosecuted, assaulted, tortured, or killed” by people acting at the behest of Maduro’s government, the indictment alleges that the abuse included electric shocks, beatings and asphyxiation. Maduro, the indictment claims, signed off on torture methods, sought and got updates on specific victims’ treatment, watched a video of a forced confession and personally threatened the killing of one prisoner’s child “as a form of psychological torture.”

Flores, a former legislator and attorney general, helped develop the repressive system and ordered the torture of some specific people, the indictment contends.

A message seeking comment was sent to Maduro’s lawyer; Flores was in court for a previously scheduled hearing, where her attorney said he hadn’t yet had time to review the new allegations. Both Maduro and Flores have been behind bars in New York since early January when forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid.

Both have pleaded not guilty in the U.S. drug case first brought years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators. They had already been facing potential life prison sentences if convicted.

Maduro has been under investigation for years by the International Criminal Court over allegations of crimes against humanity, tied to his crackdown on opponents. He has always denied any wrongdoing.

Alleged torture victims included U.S. citizens

The revised indictment includes several mentions of the involvement of Venezuela’s feared DGCIM military intelligence agency, which was headed for many years by one of Maduro’s co-defendants, Gen. Hugo Carvajal. He broke with Maduro years ago, pleaded guilty last year to drug trafficking charges in New York, and has offered to testify against his former boss.

The indictment alleges that the torture victims included three U.S. citizens, who were not named in the court documents.

One of those Americans was punched, subjected to electric shocks and forced to eat his own vomit during eight months of imprisonment, the indictment says. Another was beaten badly enough to necessitate a long hospital stay and had a gun stuck in his mouth. A third was handcuffed, hooded and beaten for two days every half an hour, suffering a permanent eye injury, the indictment said.

Maduro has long ignored lawsuits brought in U.S. courts by Americans who alleged they were beaten while in custody in Venezuela.

Among those who sued is Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Tennessee. He was arrested at a roadblock in Venezuela in 2020 and held in custody for more than two years.

In May, Heath and another former prisoner won a $300 million default judgment against Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials for overseeing a pattern of torture. The lawsuit, brought under a federal anti-terrorism law, included allegations of waterboarding, electrocution, threats of rape with a nightstick, administration of mind-altering medications and the repeated use of a cramped cell nicknamed “El Tigrito.”

“It’s incredible to see a dictator in court,” Heath said Thursday upon learning of the new charges. “The Maduro prosecution will do more to prevent the kidnapping of Americans by rogue regimes than a hundred press releases from the United Nations.”

Former first lady seeks release for medical treatment

Flores, meanwhile, was in court Thursday so her lawyers could urge a judge to free her from jail and put her under house arrest because she has heart problems.

Their attorneys have asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.

Lawyers for Flores, 69, have also argued that she has medical issues that cannot be treated effectively in jail, and that she could instead be allowed to live under 24-hour guard at a residence in New York.

They also said she suffered permanent scarring when she was “thrown against a wall or dresser” during the U.S. military action that led to her capture.

Her lawyers say she has lost 25 pounds while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and has been told that she might need heart surgery. They said she has “lingering lightheadedness, dizziness and shortness of breath” and might have suffered a minor heart attack in July.

Prosecutors opposed the bail request. In a court filing, they wrote that Flores would pose an “extreme risk of flight and danger to the public” if released. They also said she has been taken from the jail to get treatment at a local hospital, when care was needed.

President Donald Trump’s administration has defended the raid to capture Maduro as a “surgical law enforcement operation.” Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.

Flores is charged with participating in a cocaine importation conspiracy with her husband, Maduro, who served as Venezuela’s president from 2013 until his capture by American forces in January.

Lawyers for Flores said she was no threat to flee because she is “intent on supporting her husband with her constant presence.”

Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Trying to execute Christa Pike again would push into uncharted legal territory, experts say

• October 8, 2026

By KATE BRUMBACK

After Christa Pike survived Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her, the unsettled question of whether the state will try again could push Tennessee into uncharted legal territory, experts say.

Pike, 50, suffered burns and blisters to her arms and her prognosis remains uncertain after executioners tried to give her two lethal doses of pentobarbital, her legal team said Wednesday. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer.

Although other states have moved forward with attempting to execute inmates a second time, in those cases, the first try had been halted before any drug actually began flowing.

Outgoing Republican Gov. Bill Lee has paused executions in Tennessee and ordered an outside review of the failed Sept. 30 attempt to put Pike to death. His office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on whether the state would try again to execute her.

Death penalty experts say it’s hard to know what will happen if the state decides to move forward with a second attempt.

“Whether or not it would be lawful for the state of Tennessee to attempt to execute her again is a complex question that will take significant time, attention and analysis of her defense team, the prosecution team, the state government in Tennessee and multiple state and federal courts,” said Stephen Johnson, a criminal defense attorney in Tennessee who is president-elect of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Mental competency could be a first hurdle

Pike regained consciousness almost six days after the failed attempt to kill her. Her legal team had believed she was brain dead, but after she woke up, she was aware of what happened and was “angry and confused,” her lawyers said Wednesday.

Her attorneys will surely explore the medical and psychiatric impact of receiving two doses of the lethal injection drug and being on a ventilator for several days to determine if she is “now legally competent to even be executed,” Johnson said. That will likely include neuropsychological and forensic psychiatric evaluations and potentially other medical tests, and then there would “undoubtedly be significant litigation” over those issues, which can take years, he said.

Other cases could serve as a guide, but none are quite the same

There have been dozens of troubled executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, including several attempts that did not end in death.

Alan Miller and Kenneth Smith both survived lethal injection attempts in Alabama in 2022. Both argued that a second execution attempt violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment as applied to them individually, which courts found “plausible” in early litigation stages. However, the U.S. Supreme Court did not agree to decide this question, and both were ultimately executed by nitrogen gas in 2024.

Two other inmates, Thomas Creech of Idaho and Tony Carruthers of Tennessee, remain on death row after failed attempts to administer lethal injection drugs.

But Pike’s case is distinguishable from others where a second execution attempt was made because she “bore the brunt of lethal drugs,” said Jordan Steiker, co-director of the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas. He said other cases involved “the psychological trauma of facing an execution effort” but not “grievous harm.”

A similar case that predates the modern death penalty era

Louisiana executioners tried to put to death 17-year-old Willie Francis in 1946 but called off their efforts after an improperly prepared electric chair failed to kill him.

But he was executed by electrocution the following year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a second execution attempt did not violate double jeopardy under the Fifth Amendment or constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, attributing part of its reasoning to the “malfunction” of the electric chair.

The court notably said, “Accidents happen for which no man is to blame.” But a dissenting justice called the experience of being subjected to a second execution attempt “death by installments.”

It’s not clear whether this case would be viewed as controlling precedent because the Court has not revisited this ruling using its modern “evolving standards of decency” approach to the Eighth Amendment, Steiker said.

“So I think the guide today would be whether or not it would be viewed as repulsive according to contemporary community standards to attempt a second execution,” he said.

Complex legal issues

Experts said they are not aware of any state or federal statute that explicitly bars a second execution attempt after a first one fails.

John Mills, a lawyer who represents people facing the death penalty, said a crucial question would be whether a second attempt to execute Pike would amount to torture.

He said federal courts have declined to intervene in “less egregious” cases, but noted that Pike’s lawyers had previously warned that her medical conditions could complicate a lethal injection and make it agonizing.

“Facing her death a second time having thought she was going to die and then instead being tortured raises a strong claim that a second attempt to kill her would amount to torture violating the Eighth Amendment,” Mills said.

Steiker said he believes Pike’s case would be “uncharted territory” if Tennessee moves forward with a second attempt.

“The most obvious way to avoid litigation over this would be for the governor to commute the sentence,” he said.

Associated Press writers Kim Chandler in Nashville, Tennessee, and Anna Wilder in Austin, Texas, contributed reporting.

​ Orange County Register 

Strike on Ukrainian public buses leaves 30 dead as blackouts worsen in Kyiv

• October 8, 2026

By HANNA ARHIROVA

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian guided bomb exploded next to public buses filled with passengers in eastern Ukraine, authorities said Thursday, killing 30 people as part of a wave of attacks that also worsened power outages in the capital.

The morning attack occurred next to a bus stop in the war-torn city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, prompting public transport to be suspended in the area.

“There is no doubt that Russia is cynically targeting civilians,” Oleksandr Honcharenko, head of the city’s military administration, said, adding that the rescue effort had been hampered by subsequent Russian attacks using small drones.

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Russia has escalated its aerial attack in recent weeks, putting pressure on Ukraine as it prepares for winter and hitting the infrastructure keeping its war-battered economy afloat. Recent targets have included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.

Thursday’s attack followed a Russian missile strike a day earlier that killed 22, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky. Rescuers were searching the rubble of a residential building. At least 54 people were wounded. Several survivors slept in heavily damaged apartments because they couldn’t find anywhere else to stay.

Ukraine appeals for more defense support from NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Pryluky on Thursday with visiting British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband.

Zelenskyy warned that Russia will likely escalate daily missile and drone attacks as winter approaches. He appealed for additional defense support from NATO countries.

“It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages for Ukraine’s defense,” he wrote in an online post. “Supplies of anti-ballistic capabilities, ammunition for our combat aircraft and investments in interceptors — all of this is directly helping save lives every day.”

Ukraine’s energy company DTEK said national grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered emergency power outages in Kyiv. Regular, rolling outages that occur on a schedule across the country will be halted during these shutdowns.

Officials are urging families to prepare emergency kits, store drinking water and maintain backup power sources, as Moscow keeps up the intensity of its attacks.

Kyiv police said bomb disposal specialists defused two unexploded ballistic missile warheads, each weighing about half a ton, after they landed near residential buildings. Late Wednesday, Russian drones struck Kyiv’s Obolonskyi and Desnianskyi districts, killing four people and injuring 12, including four children, police said.

Ukrainian attacks damage data center and oil refinery

Russian technology giant Yandex said one of its data centers in the western Ryazan region was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, taking the site offline.

Also Thursday, Ukraine said its forces struck a large oil refinery complex in the city of Salavat, some 1,200 kilometers (about 750 miles) east of Moscow. Ukraine’s General Staff described the complex as one of Russia’s largest oil refining and petrochemical facilities. The claim could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian drones also reached Russia’s Omsk region in western Siberia, more than 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from the border with Ukraine. Omsk regional Gov. Vitaly Khotsenko said most of the drones were shot down by air defenses, but one “reached a northern industrial hub.” He didn’t elaborate. Russian independent news outlet Astra reported that the Omsk oil refinery was on fire after the attack. There was no official confirmation of the report.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said his government presented proposals to both Russia and Ukraine aimed at protecting civilian shipping in the Black Sea, while warning that commercial trade and grain exports could be disrupted by escalating military offensives.

Separately, Lithuania deployed about 100 additional soldiers to help secure the NATO member’s border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the Baltic country’s defense minister, Robertas Kaunas, said. Sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, Kaliningrad is separated from mainland Russia and remains a major security concern for NATO’s eastern flank.

Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania; Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

​ Orange County Register 

Desalination project near Doheny State Beach gets changes approved, timeline pushed back

• October 8, 2026

Several changes to an ocean desalination project proposed near Doheny State Beach to help generate drinking water for South Orange County were discussed Wednesday, Oct. 7, by the California Coastal Commission, with the modifications given the green light.

Approved changes will move the slant wells, which will source water from subsurface intake wells buried beneath the ocean floor, to the north day use area of the state beach, away from the campgrounds as previously proposed.

The project aims to tap seawater to lessen the dependence on imported water, with the South County Water District estimating the ability to make up to 5 million gallons per day of drinking water supply using a first-of-its-kind system in the state.

The desalination plant would sit at Pacific Coast Highway and Stonehill Drive, next to San Juan Creek, within 100 yards of existing regional water transmission lines. SCWD proposes to build the facility on property it owns, with much of the infrastructure already in place.

More details about the financials and timeline of the project were also discussed by water district officials, with delays pushing the next steps in the process from this fall into next year.

That means, if approved by SCWD officials and partners next year, the desalination system could be expected to be running by 2030.

The latest guaranteed maximum price for the project is estimated at $296 million, officials said. That price tag covers finalizing the design and building the project.

The main reason for the delay is the potential for an additional $63 million federal grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation early next year that would help cover a significant portion of the overall project cost, South Coast Water District General Manager Rick Shintaku said.

Current and potential partner agencies are waiting on the decision before committing, he said.

“Extra time gives us, and them, time to work through the numbers with policy bodies and governing boards,” said Marc Serna, the water district’s assistant general manager and chief engineer.

The added time also lets partner agencies assess rate impacts for their customers before committing, Serna said.

Already, the project has received $40 million in state and federal grants. A decision on the new grant funding is expected in early 2027, and if approved, it would allow SCWD to approach partners with a lower per unit of water cost, which has not yet been calculated, Shintaku said.

“That would be a game changer for the unit cost for the project,” said Shintaku. “Overall, we’re feeling good about it.”

When the project was first approved by the Coastal Commission in 2022, cost estimates were $140 million, increasing to about $236 million earlier this year.

The latest increase of $42 million is for an on-site power generator using solar power and energy generated at the nearby county landfill, a decision to invest in innovative infrastructure, Shintaku said. “The payback is very soon and we’ll start saving significant money in the long run.”

Another reason behind the delay is a concern about the upcoming El Niño winter, with a critical portion of the project site sitting on the beach, Shintaku said. If construction commenced and storms delayed work, a contractor could collect interest  — roughly $35,000 a day — while idle, he said.

Annual operating costs of the desalination system are currently estimated to be $11 million in the first year of operation, covering power, labor, materials and chemicals.

Acciona, which was chosen with J.R. Filanc Construction to design and build the project, would operate the plant under contract for 15 to 30 years, and operating costs in future years are still being negotiated, Serna said. Costs may increase in future years due to funding for repairs and replacement of aging equipment.

SCWD has yet to release monthly projected costs for an average home, but officials said the board of directors set rates through a public Prop 218 process, in which every customer receives notice and a chance to weigh in. The grant should reduce those estimates.

The changes discussed by the Coastal Commission on Wednesday to move the slant wells from the north day use area are due to new geologic studies that show the campground site could not reliably supply enough seawater.

The California State Lands Commission will also weigh in on the changes on Oct. 21 and the Regional Water Quality Control Board in early 2027.

By April to early summer, the needed approvals should be in place, and SCWD will have an answer to the grant funding so partner agencies can make an informed decision, Serna said.

Doheny State Campground, one of the most popular in the State Parks system, wouldn’t need to be closed for the construction before fall 2027.

Even though the slate wells are moving, the renovation planned for campgrounds will still be happening, SCWD officials said.

Campground design and permitting continue with California State Parks, with an estimated 225 parking spots to be closed in the day-use area, as well as a picnic area and the campgrounds during the nearly two years of construction.

Coastal Commissioner Caryl Hart asked that mitigations be made for the loss of parking, especially during the busy summer months.

Shuttles to make up for the loss of parking are being discussed, as is year-round camping at San Onofre State Beach, currently closed in the off-season, commission staff said.

Hart requested that, once the mitigation and campground upgrade plans are complete, all of the plans return as one whole package.

“While we may have approval today for the movement of the slant wells, it’s the whole package we really need to consider,” she said.

There is no permanent loss of parking proposed in the north day-use area and SCWD will replace and upgrade the public restroom and restore the picnic area, officials said.

The desalination project dates back to 2004, when the Municipal Water District of Orange County explored ideas for tapping ocean water for drinking supplies.

South Coast Water District, based in Laguna Beach, took over the planning in 2015.

Using the pipelines buried under the ocean floor is the preferred method, officials have said, because it would have little impact on marine life. Brine, the saltwater left over from the desalination process, will be mixed with treated wastewater in an existing outfall pipe and discharged two miles out into the ocean.

The Doheny plant would be the first commercial-scale desalination project to use slant wells designed to collect ocean water from beneath the seafloor and pull it through sand, reducing risks to sea life that have been concerns for other proposed desalination plants.

The project would give South Orange County residents a locally controlled source of water, which would mean more reliability and an assurance of a continuous supply, Shintaku said.

Ninety percent of South Orange County’s water is imported from the Colorado Basin and Northern California, treated at a facility in Yorba Linda.

If the pipelines that run to the area were to rupture or go out of service, the district would have enough emergency supply to last 10 days, Shintaku said. With locally sourced water, the area would have a 60-day supply, he said.

​ Orange County Register