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 

Trump says he’ll award fireballer Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom

• October 8, 2026

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and WILL WEISSERT

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that he would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to fireballer Roger Clemens, calling the seven-time Cy Young winner “maybe the greatest pitcher of all time.”

Addressing a rally in San Antonio, Trump renewed his calls for Clemens to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s an honor the pitcher known as “The Rocket” has yet to receive because of suspicions he used steroids during a 24-year career that featured time with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Houston Astros.

“We’re giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said. “And, along with the Congressional Medal of Honor, it’s the highest award bestowed upon anyone.”

The president continued: “He’ll be in the Hall of Fame someday, but he deserves it. One of the greatest athletes, and maybe the greatest pitcher, of all time.”

He added that the medal “is a big step up from the Hall of Fame.”

Trump has given the medal to various athletes during his two terms in the White House, including golfing legend Tiger Woods, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, famed Yankees closer Mariano Rivera and Lou Holtz, former coach of Notre Dame football.

He’s bestowed the same honor on Elvis Presley posthumously and on Rush Limbaugh the year before the conservative radio host died.

Wednesday’s surprise revelation came near the end of a Trump speech that lasted more than 100 minutes, and with the crowd having lost some of its enthusiasm. Clemens was attending the event, and the president called him to the stage, where the retired right-hander offered, “Well, I’m stunned.”

“This supersedes anything that obviously I’ve done in my playing career,” Clemens said. “And to get it from this man, this president, there wouldn’t be another president I’d want to get it from.”

Clemens, who was raised in Houston, said he was honored that the announcement came in Texas and added of Trump: “You’re talking about a winner. That’s a winner right there.”

Clemens, like slugger Barry Bonds and many other stars widely suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs, was repeatedly rejected by baseball writers in his bid for the Hall of Fame. There are other avenues where Clemens and others could eventually make it, but the road is not easy.

Clemens isn’t the first star baseball player Trump has made a Hall of Fame case for. The president issued a posthumous federal pardon last year for the late Pete Rose, which led to Major League Baseball lifting its ban on the all-time career hits leader.

Trump has called for Rose to be inducted in the Hall of Fame too — also, so far, unsuccessfully.

Weissert reported from Washington.

​ Orange County Register 

Hurricane Isaias intensifies, forecast to strike Florida as Category 2, NHC says

• October 8, 2026

Hurricane Isaias intensified overnight Thursday with a forecast it will threaten Florida as it targets the Gulf Coast. The storm just before midnight had become the first Atlantic system this year to reach hurricane strength, according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of the NHC’s 8 a.m. advisory, Isaias was still a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 mph located about 385 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 175 miles north-northwest of Progreso, Mexico moving east-northeast at 9 mph.

“Additional strengthening is expected through early Friday, and Isaias should remain a strong hurricane as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast on Friday night,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist Phillipe Papin.

A hurricane warning is in effect from Florida’s Bay-Gulf County line west to Ocean Springs, Mississippi with a tropical storm warning in Florida east of the Bay-Gulf County line to the Aucilla River and west of Ocean Springs to the Jefferson-Plaquemines Parish line in Louisiana. A storm surge warning is in effect from the mouth the Mississippi to the Steinhatchee River in Florida and a storm surge watch farther south to Yankeetown, Florida.

The forecast expects Isaias to reach maximum strength early Friday with 110 mph winds and 130 mph gusts early Friday in the Gulf, which would make it a strong Category 2 hurricane, but lose some steam before making landfall late Friday or early Saturday.

Hurricane Isaias tracking map: Here’s the latest forecast and warning areas

“Regardless, Isaias is expected to remain a dangerous hurricane through landfall, and gusty winds are expected well inland after landfall given the anticipated expansion,” Papin said.

For now, hurricane-force winds extend out 15 miles from its center while tropical-storm-force winds extend out 90 miles.

But that is expected to grow. Papin said the hurricane’s wind field may become broader, which could especially threaten more people hundreds of miles east of the storm’s center, currently forecast to target landfall near Pensacola.

Electric utilities were prepositioning crews to quickly repair any power outages. In Pensacola, city officials provided sand for residents to fill sandbags to protect their homes against flooding. And Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves urged people to check on elderly neighbors and others who might need help.

“Obviously no need to panic at this point,” Reeves told a news conference Wednesday. “This is really about preparation.”

Besides wind, the hurricane’s threats include possible tornadoes Friday night in coastal Florida and Alabama, storm surge up to seven feet on parts of the Gulf Coast, and excessive rain.

From Friday through the weekend, it’s expected to drop 3-7 inches with some areas getting up to 10 inches across the central U.S. Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle west to southeastern Louisiana. Another 1-3 inches with up to 5 inches could drop across much of the Southeast U.S. as far north as the Tennessee Valley and Carolinas bringing with it flash and urban flooding with some isolated river flooding.

The storm also will bring heavy swells to Florida’s Gulf Coast with life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency for 25 Florida counties in preparation for the storm.

“This order will allow the Florida Division of Emergency Management to stage critical preparedness resources and ensure Florida is ready to respond,” DeSantis said in a news release. “Floridians should take this time to get disaster plans in place and ensure their hurricane supply kit is stocked.”

Counties under the state of emergency are Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Walton, Wakulla and Washington.

The system had formed as Tropical Depression Nine on Tuesday, became a tropical storm Wednesday morning and the Atlantic season’s first hurricane at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, ending the longest stretch without a hurricane since satellite tracking began 60 years ago.

The storm formed just shy of tying a 121-year-old record as the latest arriving initial hurricane of the Atlantic season. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The hurricane season had previously seen the formation of tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo and Hanna.

For the first time in 60 years, however, none had developed into a hurricane in the Atlantic with less than two months left in the season.

Hurricane season began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30, but the height of hurricane season runs from mid-August through mid-October.

The reason for the lack of hurricanes has been an extremely strong El Niño weather pattern, which is warming surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. This generates wind shear preventing storms from strengthening in the Atlantic.

Sammy Hadi, a lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel last week that the “top of these storms that are developing are being blown off.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in August had updated its seasonal forecast to expect between seven and 13 named storms this year. Of those, two to six would become hurricanes. It also predicted that there might not be any major hurricanes this year, or at most two.

Already, 2026 was forecast to have lower-than-average storm generation, and that has been reduced even further with the latest forecasts from the NOAA and other weather groups.

An average year would see 14 named storms and seven hurricanes, with three of those growing to Category 3 strength or higher.

​ Orange County Register 

Two mayors, one city’s future: Tustin picks its next leader

• October 8, 2026

Big changes are underway in the city of Tustin, where on Nov. 3 voters will decide who will lead the evolving city for the next four years.

The two candidates, former councilmember Letitia Clark and incumbent Austin Lumbard, have each served as Tustin’s mayor, with their leadership tested by very different crises. Clark helped guide Tustin through the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests and political tension that followed George Floyd’s killing in 2020 in Minnesota, while Lumbard helped navigate the city through the aftermath of the 2023 North Hangar fire, including getting its coffers reimbursed for the emergency response.

Their individual approaches to city leadership could shape the direction Tustin takes at another pivotal time — one that includes several key developments underway at Tustin Legacy, where the future of the South Hangar is also in question.

If elected, Clark said housing would be a priority, and she aims to bring back a version of Tustin’s “workforce housing” program that she championed, partnering with groups such as the Orange County Business Council and affordable-housing nonprofit Jamboree. The program required developers on certain projects to set aside 15% of units as below-market rate or pay the city in-lieu fees earmarked for affordable housing, before the council suspended it in 2024.

Her approach, she said, prioritizes thoughtful planning that focuses on building mixed-income neighborhoods and developing a diverse housing portfolio near public transit, parks, and community areas, while ensuring that public safety resources, shopping, and other services remain accessible.

Those options could range from single-family homes and apartments to senior living, permanent supportive, and emergency housing, “so that you could have a very low-income family living right next door to an affluent family, and no one would know the difference.”

Lumbard called Tustin “the Mayberry of Orange County,” talking about the city’s founding in the post-Civil War era by Columbus Tustin before incorporating in 1927. He also likened the city to Radiator Springs, a once-bustling fictional town on Route 66 in the Pixar film “Cars” that was sidelined when a new interstate let drivers bypass it.

“Everybody used to stop in our Old Town and get their tires changed, and they’d go across the street and get a glass of lemonade,” he said. “The 5 freeway went in, and it kind of got bypassed. We’re bringing that back.”

“We have a lot going on in our city,” Lumbard said of Tustin’s evolution to today. “We’ve got about 80,000 residents, but we’re not in the news a lot because we don’t have flashy headlines.”

He credits a post-pandemic exodus from Los Angeles with helping fill Tustin’s business parks.

More tecent additions to Tustin include aerospace and space travel company Virgin Galactic’s headquarters at the Flight campus, EV manufacturer and auto tech company Rivian’s industrial purchases north of Walnut Avenue, military tech firm Anduril’s 178,000-square-foot lease this spring and Taiwanese company Advantech’s new $96 million North American headquarters.

“Those are the type of companies that we want,” he said, “and the type of jobs that we want.”

If reelected, Lumbard said he’ll champion efforts to continue attracting more employers to the city. He added that Tustin prides itself on its military history and that “a defense contractor wants to be where the military’s embraced.”

His other priority is establishing an “actual plan” for the Tustin Legacy area. One that is “documented, adopted, and executed.”

Also on that list is securing a deal with the Navy for the federally owned 85 acres around the former North Hangar site, which Lumbard said he wants settled “in the next couple years,” though he noted the timeline isn’t his to control. “The Navy is focused on fighting a war right now, not on what’s gonna happen in Tustin with 85 acres.”

An attorney at Fluor, a global construction and engineering firm with a federal government business line, Lumbard moved into Columbus Square with his family in the early 2010s. Living on the former Marine Corps Air Station, he recalled feeling frustrated by the lack of development around him.

“The base had been closed for almost 15 years. It seemed like progress had stalled, at least from an outside perspective,” he said.

He said he called Al Murray, Tustin’s mayor at the time, with questions: “Why is this going so slowly? Where are the obstacles?” He was invited down to City Hall, he said, where Murray suggested he apply to the Planning Commission. Lumbard said he joined despite having “no idea what a planning commission was.”

He served for five and a half years before he was elected to the City Council in 2018. In 2022, he became the city’s first directly elected mayor. The role was previously filled by council members appointing one of their own.

A year later, on Nov. 7, 2023, a fire broke out at the North Hangar shortly before 1 a.m. Not long after, Lumbard said he was woken by a knock at the door — a Tustin police captain stood outside. “Mr. Mayor, you need to get dressed,” the captain told him. “The hangar’s on fire.”

“It was like a scene out of a movie,” Lumbard recalled. He said he could see the North Hangar from his front step, about half a mile away.

The North Hangar burned for 24 days, and Lumbard said it quickly became clear that the Navy, which owns the structure, “couldn’t help or was not going to help.” He said the Navy’s first offer of $1 million fell significantly short of what the cleanup would ultimately cost — closer to $130 million, according to Lumbard.

With an acting city manager in place, the council agreed to front the money and hire its own contractors, taking “a significant financial risk” in the process. He said the city is now almost fully reimbursed.

“Looking back, it’s a success story,” Lumbard said. “In the middle of it, there were a lot of balls in the air.”

When asked to describe himself, Lumbard said he is a husband and father first. He said he ran for council “to have an input in our future,” and described the Planning Commission as more of an administrative review, but “not really a place where you can implement policy.”

“When I’m done with this, I’ll find another way to serve,” he said, noting the city’s term limits allow everyone to “take your turn.”

Both candidates previously ran for council seats in 2016. Clark came in second, and Lumbard, running with an opposing slate, finished fourth. In the run-up to that race, Clark said she was advised to run as an independent, while some suggested she not include a photo on her mailers so voters wouldn’t know her race.

A Black woman and single mother of twins at the time, she said she refused all of it.

“Look, I am who I am. They will find out eventually,” she said. “I want to know that if I win, it’s because people knew exactly who I was. And if I don’t win, and the city’s not ready to elect someone like me — then that’s OK, too.”

Then in 2020, nine people vied for three council seats, including Clark, who came out on top with more than 15,000 votes — which she said was the most a candidate has earned in Tustin’s history. She said her colleagues then voted to appoint her to the mayoral role, making her the city’s first Black woman to serve as mayor, and its first woman in that role in nearly two decades.

“A lot of folks are asking, what can the mayor do? It’s just another vote on the City Council,” Clark said.

“I think the mayor has a big hand in what the tone is of the council, and the staff, and the direction and the vision of the city,” she said. “The mayor is the spokesperson, and we can use that platform for good or for bad — or do nothing with it.”

In 2020, Clark authored a proclamation welcoming peaceful protest at the height of the George Floyd demonstrations, one she said colleagues initially resisted, but she got the council to vote unanimously in favor of.

She said the city now has an opportunity to steer funds toward immigration resources and to help those who may be suffering or experiencing adverse interactions with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “This isn’t Santa Ana’s problem. This isn’t an Irvine problem. We have concerns right here in Tustin.”

Clark said there should be a formal statement from the city to make sure Tustin residents feel safe, inform them of their rights and offer support, including legal aid, if they don’t.

Last year, video footage showed armed Border Patrol agents physically beating and detaining Tustin resident Narciso Barranco — a landscaper and father of three U.S. Marines — during a June 2025 stop in Santa Ana. The footage made national headlines and drew widespread condemnation.

Councilmember Lee Fink was the only Tustin council member to address the incident from the dais, telling colleagues that he had met with Barranco.

“I’ve gone on record saying the silence is deafening,” said Clark, adding that some people outside the city still hold an “age-old perception” of Tustin as a predominantly white, suburban conservative community. “I have to fact-check them,” she said, adding that the city’s makeup is predominantly Latino, with a growing Asian American population and several Title I schools serving low-income families.

When asked about the use of force incident involving Barranco and federal immigration agents, Lumbard said, “This seems like a Santa Ana issue — I’m mayor of Tustin and I’m very proud of how we’ve been able to keep people from all walks of life safe in our city.”

“The credit is largely due to the professionalism and bravery of our police and firefighters,” he said.

Clark, now the chief communications officer for the South Orange County Community College District, attended Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically Black college in New Orleans. It was there that she said seeing Black women run for office pushed her to switch from pre-law to political science and public administration. After graduating, she went to work for the city of New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina hit just a year later in 2005.

Then 22, she stayed on as “essential personnel,” losing her car and apartment to the floodwaters, living in a hotel for six months and walking to work. She called those formative years proof she “could do hard things,” and the reason she seeks positions of influence to help.

A decade later, she returned to Tustin. She said her experience at Tustin High before heading off to college helped shape the strong, positive associations she holds with the city, which she described as a “melting pot.”

“I’m pretty sure I was the first Black homecoming queen. I was just all involved,” she recalled. She was also a cheerleader, ran track and served as senior class president.

Clark attributed a lot of the diversity to the military families stationed at the former Marine Corps Air Station.

“A lot of them had just lived all over the world,” she recalled, describing kids of different backgrounds hanging out with each other — creating the “very inclusive, very open” image of Tustin that Clark said she wants her own children to grow up in.

But that vision extends beyond her own family. Clark also wants to see more union labor on major projects, arguing that hiring locally keeps money circulating in the community. On several occasions, she said, residents have approached her with the same message: “I live in Tustin, and I wanna be able to work on jobs in Tustin.”

While she acknowledges that Tustin has never had a formal community workforce agreement, Clark said she has built relationships with union carpenters and laborers to prepare the groundwork for such a policy.

She also said the former Marine Corps Air Station is a key opportunity to implement her goals for mixed-income workforce housing and community services.

“The future of the base must support those priorities rather than place additional burdens on existing communities. I would bring residents, veterans, businesses and service providers into the planning process early so development reflects Tustin’s most pressing needs and includes the necessary infrastructure,” she said.

Clark said she believes the development of the base should go hand-in-hand with a more inclusive, proactive leadership style. One that ensures residents of all backgrounds, especially those in the “far corners” of the community, feel seen and welcomed.

Though Tustin Legacy is where most of the city’s future development will be happening, Lumbard said it isn’t just about what gets built, but also what it funds.

“As we realize revenue from land sales and development on the Legacy, we can help fund other parts of town,” he said, pointing to the streetscape overhaul now under construction in Old Town, where crews are rebuilding sidewalks along El Camino Real and Main Street.

“The focus shouldn’t all be on just the Legacy,” he said. “We focus on every part of town, including our border with Santa Ana.”

He said the city is replicating that model beyond Old Town, including with a joint-use park behind Heideman Elementary, where a once-fenced-off school field is being opened in the evenings and on weekends for a southwest Tustin neighborhood that lacked park space.

Ballots for the Nov. 3 election began arriving in mailboxes of registered voters earlier this week. They may be returned by mail or at an OC Registrar of Voters dropbox around town now; vote centers will begin their phased opening on Oct. 24.

​ Orange County Register 

What AI can (and can’t) do for your shopping

• October 8, 2026

By Kate Ashford, NerdWallet

If you’re still doing your shopping the old-fashioned way — that is, all by yourself — it might interest you to know that 43% of U.S. online shoppers say they’ve used an AI assistant for product research in the past 90 days, according to a 2026 study by Product.ai, a commerce verification company.

But most weren’t willing to take AI’s word for it: Of those shoppers who used an AI assistant, 86% checked its recommendation against another source before buying, the study found.

So is AI a useful shopping assistant and coupon finder? That depends on how you use it.

“It’s great at helping you figure out what to buy,” says Clay Cary, senior trends analyst at CouponFollow. “It’s not great at helping you maximize savings.”

Here’s what you should know before you make Claude or Gemini your personal shopper.

AI can help you pick a product

Early in the shopping process, AI can help you decide what to buy. Stumped on a gift for your mother-in-law? Tell your AI tool about her and see what it suggests.

“You can enter a really specific prompt about a person you’re trying to buy for and their interests,” says Trae Bodge, a retail expert at TrueTrae.com who is based in New Jersey. “AI is great for that.”

If you’re shopping for yourself, AI can help you compare features and evaluate products for a specific situation.

For example, you might ask: “What shoes would work well for someone who takes a HIIT class three times a week, has flat feet and needs extra ankle stability?”

A merchant site generally won’t offer filters for a query that specific, says Alexander Ketter, managing director of Coupons.com. But AI can consider those details and suggest options, or at least point you in the right direction.

Just keep in mind that AI tools are limited by what they can access online. Their knowledge may be outdated or incomplete, especially when it comes to newer products.

“If you’re trying to get information on a new brand or product that isn’t yet well known, the AI might not yet have enough information,” Ketter says.

AI may not find today’s best deal

Using AI tools to search for coupon codes feels like a no-brainer, but they’re not a one-stop shop. Studies have found that a majority of AI-suggested codes are duds, although it’s worth noting that the studies were done by companies in the coupon business.

There are a few issues at play. First, some big coupon sites have blocked AI crawlers, Ketter says, which means AI tools can’t fetch their coupon codes.

Second, even when an AI tool can search the internet, it may use cached or partial information rather than a retailer’s latest product page. So for coupon codes or deals that expire quickly, you may be out of luck.

“The chance that the LLM has scraped the page that you’re looking for in the last 24 hours is not great,” Cary says. “It’s not going to be as up-to-date as actually clicking on the website.”

One tactic worth trying: Using AI tools to search for influencer codes on social media. But sticking to coupon databases and browser extensions is likely going to save you more money, at least for the moment.

AI recommendations are inconsistent

AI tools can also be hit-or-miss when it comes to product recommendations. In one 2025 study involving Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, the three AI tools differed on which products they recommended when presented with an identical selection.

“Obviously you would expect them to prefer cheaper products, higher-rated products and products with more ratings,” says Yash Kanoria, John A. Howard Professor of Business at Columbia University and one of the authors of the study.

What’s surprising is that there are other things the AI models care about, “like position of the product in the display, which you may not expect,” Kanoria says. And model preferences on both important things like price and unimportant things like position “change abruptly from one model to the next.”

Because some websites block AI access, the tools can’t see all the information that’s available. And sometimes they simply don’t include everything.

“Sometimes it overlooks certain brands for no particular reason,” Kanoria says. “Which brand it’s ignoring or which products it’s ignoring can change from one model to the next.”

Treat AI as a starting point

AI can be a useful first step or supplement to your shopping research. And it may add insight in spots you didn’t expect, as it did for Cary when he was looking for an air purifier for his kitchen.

“Apparently, when you’re cooking something on the stove, you need a carbon filter, and I didn’t know that,” he says. Thankfully, his AI tool brought the issue to his attention, and he made his purchase decision accordingly.

You also don’t have to stick to the main AI tools. Bodge thinks retailer-specific AIs can provide better experiences. She points to Alexa for Shopping, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant.

“The Alexa AI is very good, in my opinion,” she says. “Because it lives in Amazon and is combing Amazon itself, you can get product descriptions, product comparisons and you can ask very specific questions.”

Compare Alexa’s answers with Target’s new AI search tool, which shoppers can access by clicking the icon in the search bar, to see how their answers compare.

“It almost feels like the chatbots are each a different friend,” Bodge says. You go to one friend because they have amazing taste, she says, while you hit up another because they’re super budget savvy. “If you’re an AI user, you absolutely should be using more than one.”

In the end, though, AI shouldn’t be your final stop.

“While it is fine to start your research in AI to narrow your options down,” Ketter says, “when it comes to making a purchase, it is best to do the price comparison and coupon search yourself.”

Kate Ashford, WMS writes for NerdWallet. Email: kashford@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kateashford.

The article What AI Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Shopping originally appeared on NerdWallet.

​ Orange County Register 

Explosions heard in Saudi capital and Riyadh airport, and other Mideast developments

• October 8, 2026

By The Associated Press

Several explosions were heard in the Saudi capital on Thursday, including one at the Riyadh airport that halted flights, a witness said. The blasts came as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have targeted the kingdom’s infrastructure, though there was no word on what had caused the explosions and no claim of responsibility.

Meanwhile, Britain says it demoted its consulate in east Jerusalem to a mission and that 20 diplomats will leave the country, after Israel demanded its closure in response to the U.K. banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The consulate sign outside was removed.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Thursday. Read our full coverage here.

Explosions are heard in the Saudi capital

A witness says several explosions were heard in Riyadh on Thursday, including a large blast at the city’s international airport.

Fire and ambulance crews were being deployed, and smoke was visible, the witness said.

The witness said that outgoing flights were halted, and that passengers were instructed to evacuate the airport. It was not immediately clear how many flights were disrupted, but the witness said the terminal was crowded with passengers and that people were instructed to leave all checked-in luggage behind.

The cause of the blasts was not immediately known. But the explosions came at a time when Houthi rebels have been targeting Saudi airports and oil installations.

Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

By Josef Federman

British consulate in east Jerusalem forced to demote itself after Israeli pressure

Britain said it had reached an agreement with Israel’s government to downgrade its consulate in east Jerusalem, and a small team of diplomats will continue to operate in what will now be known as the U.K. Mission.

Israel’s government said last month it would close the consulate in response to the United Kingdom banning trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement that the consulate had “ceased to function as a consulate.” He said twenty British diplomats will leave Israel, and that the building will continue to operate with seven diplomats engaged in limited activity.

“Israel will no longer turn its cheek to diplomatic attacks against it,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband denied the building will close and said it will be known as the U.K. Mission. Miliband said the seven diplomats remaining will continue to work with Palestinians, but gave no details. The UK said based on the current agreement, it would not take reciprocal action such as expelling Israeli diplomats from London.

A tanker is struck off the coast of Qatar

The British military said late Wednesday that several projectiles struck a tanker off the coast of Qatar, causing multiple casualties.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the attack took place in the Persian Gulf, north of Qatar’s city of Madinat ash Shamal. The city is on the northern tip of Qatar.

The U.K. military did not identify the tanker and did not provide any details about the casualties. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and no comment from Qatar.

Former military secretary accuses Netanyahu of trying to alter records of Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former military secretary has accused the Israeli leader of altering official transcripts of phone calls from the morning of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks.

The accusations by Maj. Gen. Avi Gil came in a wide-ranging interview with the right-wing Israel Hayom newspaper.

In excerpts of the interview published Thursday, Gil accused Netanyahu of attempting to change records of their phone calls in the first hour of the attack, possibly in an attempt to shift blame for failures that morning from the prime minister to his advisers.

Gil said he reported the attempt, allegedly made by Netanyahu’s chief of staff, to the attorney general. Gil served as military secretary from 2021 to 2024.

In the interview, Gil also confirmed that a senior Egyptian intelligence official had visited Israel shortly before the Oct. 7 attack. Asked whether there had been a warning, Gil said he did not know what message was relayed, but added: “Whoever met with someone or received something is still concealing it today.”

Gil’s full interview is expected to be published over the weekend, and an interview with an Israeli TV channel is also planned.

The report comes as Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is seeking re-election on Oct. 27. His Likud party told Israel Hayom that Gil’s comments are part of an attempt to oust Netanyahu from power, the paper said.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

​ Orange County Register 

Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson wins Nobel Prize in literature

• October 8, 2026

By JILL LAWLESS, STEFANIE DAZIO and KOSTYA MANENKOV

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for playful, genre-blending works that fuse the classical and the modern.

Ingrid Carlberg, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said the author was in Iceland “listening to the wind” when the academy reached her to notify her of the win.

“She was very taken by surprise,” Carlberg said.

Toronto-born Carson, 76, draws on themes and stories from ancient Greek and Roman literature for works that often blend elements of poetry, essay and fiction.

Her books include “Eros the Bittersweet,” a look at the pleasure and pain of desire in ancient Greek literature, verse novel “Autobiography of Red,” “Men in the Off Hours,” a collection of poetry and prose that won Canada’s Griffin Prize for poetry in 2001 and “Norma Jeane Baker of Troy,” which compares Marilyn Monroe and Helen of Troy.

Carson also has translated works of classical Greek literature that, the Swedish Academy said, “may be regarded as independent works in their own right.” They include “If Not, Winter,” based on poem fragments by Sappho, Sophocles’ tragic plays “Electra” and “Antigone” and Euripides’s “Bakkhai.”

“Almost all her literary production has centered upon the intersection between the philologist’s obsession with words and the poet’s desire for new meaning,” said Anders Olsson, chair of the literature committee.

Olsson added that Carson’s juxtaposition of influences ranging from the ancient Greeks to John Keats, Virginia Woolf and Emily Bronte “leads to playful and ironic works that move not only between classical and modern poetry but also between different genres and artforms.”

Carson has taught classics at several North American universities and has lived in Iceland, where she and her husband, Robert Currie, were granted citizenship in 2022.

The prize was announced by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The Associated Press’ efforts to reach Carson and her literary agent, Nicole Aragi, were not immediately successful.

Last year, Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, whose surreal and anarchic novels combine a bleak world view with mordant humor, won the Nobel Prize in literature for work the judges said upholds the power of art in the midst of “apocalyptic terror.”

Three science awards were announced earlier this week. The Nobel for medicine went to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos. The chemistry prize recognized two scientists for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs.

This week ends with Friday’s peace prize. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million).

Dazio reported from Berlin and Lawless reported from London. Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.

AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

​ Orange County Register 

A British man is bailed after his arrest in security incident at a US-run military base in England

• October 8, 2026

LONDON (AP) — A 22-year-old British man arrested on suspicion of plotting a terror attack following a security incident at a U.S.-run military air base in England has been released on bail, authorities said Thursday.

The suspect, who was not named, is the seventh man bailed in the investigation of an apparent plot aimed at RAF Fairford air base, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran.

British authorities have linked Tehran to the incident that led the U.S. to pull its bombers from RAF Fairford on Sunday.

The Trump administration believed the base faced Iranian threats intended to kill as many American troops and destroy as many U.S. planes as possible, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the U.K. sees “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident. He did not provide details about what the suspects were planning or why the U.K. thinks Iran was involved.

Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident that led to scores of residents being evacuated from their homes near the base on Sept. 27 as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area.

Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans linked to the initial five suspects, but no explosives.

All the suspects arrested have been in their 20s and six have been British nationals while one is a dual U.K.-Iranian citizen.

The U.K.-owned base, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, was used by American B-1 and B-52 bombers during the Iran war.

The British government allowed the U.S. military to use RAF Fairford for what it called defensive strikes on Iranian missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf.

​ Orange County Register