Zelensky’s dilemma is Trump’s shame

• March 1, 2025

It takes a special kind of evil to know that you have the survival of an entire nation in the palm of your hand, and choosing to clench your fist and watch them squirm. President Trump and Vice President Vance met with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval Office on Friday to agree to a deal that would grant US access to minerals in exchange for continued aid. It devolved into one of the most embarrassing displays in the history of American diplomacy. 

There’s no doubt that without American help, Ukraine would have fallen to Russian forces long ago. Everyone, including Trump Vance and Zelensky, know that without the continued support of the US, Ukraine’s chances of keeping the Russians at bay are slim. With these asymmetric dependence conditions in mind, the president and vice president decided to shout at and humiliate the war-weary Ukranians. 

It was truly hard to watch as Trump and Vance repeatedly yelled at Zelensky that he should be more grateful and that he was in no position to dictate anything. 

Vance said things like, “Have you said thank you once?”, “Just say thank you,” and “We know you’re wrong.” Trump said things like, “You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel”, “Your country is in big trouble”, “You’re not winning this”, and “You have to be thankful. You don’t have the cards, you’re buried there.”

As Ukraine enters its third year of a grueling conflict where thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, women, and children have died and millions displaced, our leadership decided that it was a great time to bleed the battered country and hold aid hostage while demanding access to their minerals. Zelensky had no option if he wanted to save his country and so he complied, agreeing to sign the deal. 

After weeks of having to listen to Trump parroting Putin’s lies, hinting that we would abandon the vulnerable country, and attacking the legitimacy of his presidency, Zelensky arrived at the Oval Office and was told that diplomacy with Russia is the solution. What prompted the barrage of attacks by Trump and Vance was that Zelensky questioned whether diplomacy was really the answer. 

An understandable apprehension given that diplomacy was tried countless times to prevent Putin from invading. A lucid unease given that Russia violated their Friendship Treaty with Ukraine when they invaded the Crimean Peninsula, violated the Budapest memorandum (where Russia agreed to respect Ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for removing Soviet nukes from their territory), violated the Minsk agreements, and violated numerous cease-fire agreements. 

It is difficult to find something in Russia’s recent history that would indicate that they respect international agreements. What its history does tell us is that they like to sign agreements and then violate them as soon as they see an opportunity for advantage. 

For expressing an entirely sensible opinion and having the audacity to disagree with the great and powerful administration, Trump and Vance made it very clear to Zelensky that the perilous position that his country finds itself in means that he is their dog, and they don’t want to hear the dog chiming in. 

Ukraine is not the only one who is benefitting from American intervention. Russia, a great international rival, has been severely diminished. Their military has been revealed to be so weak that they have had to import malnourished North Korean soldiers to help them continue their offensive.  

And yet, we see what Trump and Vance do when they have someone by the short and curlies. It doesn’t matter that the owner of said curlies is attempting to save his people from annihilation at the hands of a cruel dictator – they pounce on the opportunity to extract benefits, and rub his nose on the ground in front of the world. You could see in Zelensky’s face that he was struggling with restraint in the face of utter disrespect.

They and Zelensky understand that pride is a price the Ukrainians must pay for their survival. Trump and Vance made it clear that if they want America’s help, groveling is the only way. Ignore the crazy nonsense that Trump spews, keep your mouth shut, and never stop acknowledging that we are the ones that are saving you. It takes a special kind of cruelty to present this sort of a dilemma to a broken country: set your pride aside and beg or die. 

Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group.

​ Orange County Register 

10 best things to eat at Disney’s 2025 Food & Wine Festival

• March 1, 2025

Foodies flocked to Disney California Adventure for Food & Wine Fest 2025 to sample and share small plates highlighting California-grown ingredients while grazing from one booth to the next on an epicurean adventure.

The Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival kicked off on Friday, Feb. 28 and runs through April 21 with local, celebrity and Disney chefs offering cooking tips during culinary demonstrations, tasting seminars and signature events.

The focal points of the festival are the eight marketplace booths offering 13 new food and drink items during this year’s event. DCA eateries and food stands as well Downtown Disney restaurants also serve festival fare.

Disney trimmed three marketplace booths from the festival this year (D-Lish, Earth Eats and Nuts About Cheese) and added the new Mercado de Antojos to the mix.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland reveals tasting menus for 2025 Food & Wine Festival

Food & Wine Fest Sip and Savor passes are back again this year that allow visitors to purchase a prepaid card with eight or four digital coupons good for individual items at food and beverage stands throughout the event.

A Sip and Savor card with eight tabs good for individual items at food and beverage stands throughout the festival costs $63 for 8 items with a $5 discount for Magic Key annual passholders. This year there is also a $32 Sip & Savor pass for 4 items with no AP discount.

ALSO SEE: How Disneyland Paris uses airline-style dynamic pricing

Skip the long lines at the Sip and Savor sales booths and get your card and lanyard at one of the festival merchandise booths along the parade route that rarely have long queues.

You don’t have to buy your food at the booth where it’s served. The best bet is to figure out everything you want to eat and order it all at once from the register stand with the shortest line. Then you can pick up your food whenever you want.

The Uncorked California booth had the shortest line with the most open cashiers on opening day — in part because it was farthest from the front entrance and had the least festival traffic.

Here’s what I liked from best to worst at DCA’s 2025 Food & Wine Festival.

1) Birria Mac & Cheese

Mercado de Antojos

Served with onion-cilantro sauce and tortilla crunch ($9)

It’s always hard to beat the mac and cheese at Disney’s Food & Wine fest and this year is no exception.

The birria was moist, juicy and delicious with bits of tortilla chips tossed in for crunch. The mac and cheese had a bit of a tang to it.

The mash-up combined classic Southern-style mac and cheese with the Mexican flair of the trendy seasoned braised meat.

At this point, Disney California Adventure should host a mac and cheese festival and bring back all the old favorites mixed in with a few new experiments each year.

2) Western BBQ Burger Bao

LA Style

Served with sweet barbecue sauce, applewood smoked bacon and crispy onions ($9.50)

The award for the most daring food mash-up at this year’s festival goes to the bao burger. This is what Disney’s Food & Wine Festival is all about. A clash of cultures mixing one classic Californian food with another.

I come to the food festival every year to try something I’ve never had before. The bao burger perfectly fit the bill.

The deconstructed barbecue burger topped with bacon bits and a squirt of barbecue sauce paired perfectly with the ground beef boa that also doubled as the bun.

3) Corn Chip Chili Pie

Peppers Cali-Ente

Seasoned plant-based beef, spicy cheese sauce, tomatoes, sliced jalapeños and cream ($8)

The presentation in the Fritos snack-sized bag was traditional and cute, but you’re going to want to dump the chili and corn chips into a bowl if you want to get an even mix of both the savory and the crunch.

Otherwise you’ll finish all the chili and be left with nothing but chips.

The Disney chefs tossed in a few jalapeño slices for those who want to add a little extra kick.

I would not have known the “beef” in the chili was plant-based without reading the menu. And even then I would still call myself pleasantly fooled.

4) Cherry Cobbler Pot de Creme

Golden Dreams

Vanilla custard, cherry filling and oat crumble ($7.50)

The cherry-covered cobbler looked like it was going to be way too sweet before I took my first bite — but to my surprise the tasty dessert was not overly sugary.

The cherries were tart, the custard was smooth and the oat crumble on top offered a hint of a classic cobbler baked batter topping.

All the flavors were evenly balanced — especially when you got a scoop with all three layers.

The cobbler was theoretically shareable, but I’d tell your friend or loved one to get their own. You’re going to want to eat the whole thing.

5) Sirloin Gruyere Mac & Cheese

Garlic Kissed

Served with black garlic chimichurri and garlic butter crunch ($9)

The second mac and cheese offered in the festival marketplace booth this year basically borrowed the chimichurri sirloin topping from last year’s baked potato and put it on top of gruyere-soaked elbow noodles.

The first thing I noticed was the giant chunks of sirloin that hid any hint of the mac and cheese in the bowl below.

You’re going to need a knife to quarter those blocks of beef if you don’t want to spend all day chewing on your cud like a cow. It didn’t help that the beef was tough.

My guess is the Disney chefs chose not to chop the chunks into smaller bite sizes to preserve the moisture in the meats that sit in a warming box before being served.

The best part was the pile of gruyere mac and cheese sitting at the bottom of the bowl. Hopefully next year the festival chefs come up with a more adventurous topping than sirloin chunks.

6) Lemon Pepper Wings

California Craft Brews

Served with garlic ranch ($9)

The juicy and zesty wings had a lot of flavor with the garlic ranch dressing on the side adding a tang.

The flavors kind of tingled on my tongue whenever I took a bite.

Wings have become a standby at Disney’s Food & Wine Fest. This year’s version felt like a safe bet rather than a “tasting ground” for bold experimentation.

7) Cafe de Olla Tres Leches Cake

Mercado de Antojos

Tres leches topped with piloncillo chantilly, cinnamon and a Mickey-shaped cookie ($7.75)

There were at least three things promised with this dessert and the Disney bakery team only delivered on two of them.

Cafe de Olla is a Mexican coffee with hints of cinnamon and caramel. Tres leches is a sponge cake soaked in three types of milk.

The delicate chantilly topping certainly had hints of coffee and cinnamon flavors, but the cake base was dry and definitely not milky or spongey.

Disneylanders felt differently on the opening day of the festival. The Tres Leches Cake was briefly sold out just after lunch until the stockpile at the new Mercado de Antojos marketplace booth could be replenished from the park’s central bakery.

8) Asa’Dos

Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo

Grilled skirt steak and chipotle chicken with Spanish rice and salsa verde ($9.75)

The Asa’Dos was certainly the most meal-sized dish of the sample-sized plates at the festival marketplace booths.

From a value stand-point, the Asa’Dos offered the best bang for the buck.

But that’s not really the point of the Sip & Savor pass and the festival booths. The idea is to snack on a variety of different flavors from across the spectrum of California cultures and cuisines.

The steak was tough and hard to chew. The chipotle seasoned chicken was hearty and plentiful. The salsa verde was “theme park spicy” — just enough kick to not offend anyone. I could have used another corn tortilla or two to scoop up everything on the plate.

9) Chicken Taquito Ahogado

Paradise Garden Grill

Served in salsa verde with Spanish rice, avocado crema, sour cream, pickled onion, cotija and cilantro ($8)

It’s always a little weird to order one of the Sip & Savor sample-sized dishes from the restaurants during the Disney Food & Wine Fest.

You become acutely aware that you’ve just ordered one taquito for $8.

Despite the cost, the taquito was thick, hefty and stuffed with a lot of chicken. And then topped to almost tipping over with crema, cotija, sour cream and all the other garnishes.

But at the end of the day it was just a taquito. With no festival twist and no mash-up of cultures or cuisines. Just your ordinary, everyday crispy rolled taco.

10) Sloppy Joe Slider

California Craft Brews

Plant-based beef with cheese ($8)

Every year the Disney chefs try a few Impossible “meats” and most of the time they taste exactly like the real thing — but there’s often one protein substitute that just tastes off.

This year’s plant-based “miss” goes to the Sloppy Joe Slider.

The texture and taste of the meat was just off. Maybe it was the flavor that tasted a bit like a Nashville hot chicken sauce. Or maybe it was the “ground beef” that looked more like a thin spread than a hefty meat filling.

The Texas toast-style bun was tasty, but it’s never a good sign when the bread is the best part of a sandwich.

​ Orange County Register 

Newport Beach executive and insurance agent plead guilty in multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme

• March 1, 2025

An Orange County executive and an insurance agent pleaded guilty Friday, Feb. 28 in a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme.

Robert Andrew Lotter, 67, of Newport Beach, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of illegally selling unqualified securities. Co-defendant Charles Albert Major, 76, pleaded to two counts of making an untrue statement or omission in connection with a purchase or sale and a count of unlawfully selling unqualified securities, all felonies.

The two are scheduled to be sentenced April 11.

In court papers filed in 2020, state Department of Insurance investigator Braelyn Velasco said Lotter “fraudulently sold securities to 20 victims by means of omission, misrepresentation, and through the use of a device, scheme, or artifice, Lotter’s victims lost $4,087,811.04.”

From May 2003 to May 2018, Lotter “sold investments in his companies’ eAgency Inc. and Mymobilewatchdog Inc. by the use of misleading marketing materials and tactics that led victims to believe Lotter’s insurance agency was affiliated with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, a state agency that provides retirement pension benefits to California public school educators,” according to Velasco.

Lotter created My Mobile Watchdog, a Newport Beach-based company that helps parents use the app to keep track of web activity on their children’s cellphone.

“Victims responded to the misleading materials with the belief they were requesting a retirement analysis from (the state retirement system),” Velasco alleged.

Accredited investors were then solicited to invest in the defendant’s companies, Velasco said.

Velasco alleged:

• Lotter “inappropriately used his agency to access customers’ private financial information to determine if the customer was accredited, in order to solicit the customers’ investments” in the defendants’ companies;
• Lotter dangled “unrealistic and inflated financial projects of his companies” to potential investors;
• Lotter also “failed to properly disclose to all victims” that investments in his companies were “high risk.”

“At least 10 victims stated there were no such discussions of the risk involved, or that such discussions did not identify the investment as high-risk,” Velasco said. “Some victims were told there was no chance they would lose any of their investment.”

Velasco further said that Lotter and his “companies continued to lull victims throughout the years into believing eAgency Inc. and/or Mymobileatchdog Inc. was making significant progress and investors would see substantial returns soon. Nearly every victim stated they were told investors would see returns within one to two years. The same message was given to victims from the early 2000s until 2018.”

​ Orange County Register 

Chapman president highlights university’s growth in final annual address

• March 1, 2025

Chapman University President Daniele Struppa on Friday, Feb. 28, delivered his final State of the University address after a near-decade leading the school, celebrating its growth and rise in the ranks of higher education.

The address had a theme of finality for Struppa, who is stepping down in September. It was one last time for him to show Chapman leadership, faculty, staff, students and donors how much the university has grown over the past decade and the new initiatives underway.

Chapman’s endowment has eclipsed $800 million, Struppa highlighted, more than double what it was a decade ago — fueled by the school’s recent fundraising spree.

A bigger endowment, Struppa said, allows the school to weather financial challenges better and pursue new educational programs.

“I think that’s a big success story,” Struppa said. “The reason why this number is so important is we’ve been able to face significant challenges over and over again, and do very well every time.”

Struppa delivered his speech at the school’s Musco Center for the Arts and thanked his colleagues before he retires as the university’s president and returns to its mathematics faculty. He spoke about how Chapman has risen in the U.S. News & World Report’s national university ranking to number 121 and the school is knocking on the door of the highest research classification designated by the Carnegie Foundation.

Some of those research investments will be showcased when the school opens its new home for quantum and advanced physics studies later this year.

The university will have spent more than $70 million to purchase the historic Killefer School from Orange Unified — it was the first campus in California to desegregate — and preserve and renovate it to “house some of the most advanced quantum research.”

Struppa acknowledged some of the challenges faced in recent years, including shepherding the university through the coronavirus pandemic and the botched rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid by the U.S. Department of Education.

That delay in financial aid awards caused the school to lose some enrollment over the last year, Struppa said. To further address budget issues caused by the drop in enrollment, the university closed 20 open positions and used some of its endowment.

Struppa was reminded of another of those challenges on Friday when his speech was interrupted at separate times by four different pro-Palestinian protestors. As with several universities, Chapman saw an encampment develop with students entrenched for about two weeks just before graduation in May.

Struppa picked back up with his remarks, saying he, too, was a big protestor when he was in college.

Matt Parlow, Chapman’s executive vice president and chief advancement officer, will become the school’s new president in September. Struppa will take a sabbatical and then return to the school’s mathematics faculty.

“I don’t think the university could be in better hands,” Struppa said.

Parlow had been a dean of Chapman’s law school and in recent years ran its fundraising campaigns. Midway through the State of the University address, Struppa welcomed Larlow onstage to deliver the final half of the address.

Parlow spoke about Chapman’s efforts to help Orange County high school students. One program, fueled by a $5 million grant from CalOptima, will fund scholarships for students from under-resourced backgrounds to attend Chapman’s physician assistant program in return for committing to work in the county following graduation.

Parlow ended his remarks by thanking Struppa and saying there was no playbook for many of the challenges encountered by the school, and with his leadership Chapman came out of them stronger.

“The president’s job is really hard,” Parlow said. “I see that every day working with him, and yet he always keeps his cool. He cares so deeply about the people he works with, about the students that we serve, the alumni who come back and stay engaged with the university, he really cares about people. It’s genuine.”

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA can’t slow Purdue’s best down the stretch in loss

• March 1, 2025

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The UCLA men’s basketball team had hoped to secure a top-four seed and a coveted double bye for the Big Ten Tournament, but that goal likely vanished Friday night.

Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 29 points and Braden Smith added 23 to help No. 20 Purdue beat UCLA, 76-66, a defeat that essentially ends the Bruins’ chances for a top-four finish in the regular-season standings.

The Bruins (20-9 overall, 11-7 Big Ten) came into the night in a three-way tie with Purdue and Maryland for fourth place in the league. UCLA fell a game behind the Boilermakers and is a half-game behind Maryland, with both Purdue and the Terps now owning the head-to-head wins over the Bruins, who have two games left next week.

Tyler Bilodeau had 15 points and seven rebounds and Sebastian Mack scored 10 points off the bench for the Bruins, who could not keep up with a Purdue team that shot a torrid 11 for 22 from 3-point range and used a 12-0 run to pull away in a game that had been tight throughout.

Kaufman-Renn shot 11 for 15 from the field and 7 for 10 from the free-throw line as the Boilermakers (20-9, 12-6) snapped a four-game losing streak. Fletcher Loyer scored 11 points.

Purdue shot 52% from the field while UCLA hit 48% in a game that went back and forth until the final six minutes.

Trailing 56-55, Kaufman-Renn scored six consecutive points to put Purdue ahead 61-56 with 5:35 left. Camden Heide and Loyer then made 3-pointers to cap a 12-0 run that had the home crowd erupting and UCLA calling a timeout with 3:38 left.

UCLA missed six of seven shots before Aday Mara hit a turnaround jumper to make it 67-58 and end the Bruins’ scoring drought, but Smith helped Purdue to effectively seal it with two 3-pointers – the first with 2:54 left and the second about a minute later, with plenty of time to set up before his swish elicited another eruption from the home fans. UCLA went the final 2:33 without a field goal.

Smith finished 6 for 10 from behind the arc, had eight assists to break the program’s career assists mark and added four steals. Kaufman-Renn added three steals and a blocked shot.

The Bruins finished with a 31-23 rebounding advantage and a 30-8 margin in bench scoring, but they shot just 5 for 18 from long range and had trouble slowing Purdue’s top scorers.

Purdue shot 60% in the first half to take a 37-35 lead at halftime. UCLA made 46% from the field but held a 20-7 edge in rebounds, including 10-1 on the offensive boards.

Purdue built a 29-19 lead, only to see it nearly erased by an 8-0 surge from UCLA. Purdue’s Loyer hit a 3-pointer to give Purdue a 32-27 lead, but the Bruins outscored Purdue 8-5 to end the half.

UP NEXT

UCLA plays at Northwestern on Monday at 6 p.m. PT.

​ Orange County Register 

JSerra boys soccer defeats Loyola to claim CIF-SS Open title for second time in three years

• March 1, 2025

ORANGE – A senior scored his 20th goal of the season. A freshman scored the second goal of his high school life.

Those two second-half goals stood up for JSerra in a 2-0 win over Loyola in the CIF Southern Section Open Division boys soccer championship game Friday at El Modena High.

Senior Gavin Allegaert scored the first goal, his team-leading 20th. Freshman Finn Wilkins scored the second goal, his second of the season.

It is JSerra’s second CIF-SS boys soccer championship over the past three years. The Lions were champions in 2023. They also won the CIF-SS championship in 2010, the school’s first CIF-SS title in any sport.

JSerra improved to 17-0-1 and it was Loyola’s first loss of the season. The Cubs went into Friday’s final 20-0-4.

The season continues for both teams in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs that begin Tuesday. The brackets will be released Sunday.

Allegaert said the Lions just might add a regional title to their CIF Southern Section and Trinity League championships.

“We’re a hungry team,” Allegaert said. “We’ll do whatever it takes to win.”

JSerra coach Erik Kirsch said his team did not play a perfect game, but maybe perfect games don’t happen in a game with so much at stake.

“It never goes the way you picture how you want to play,” Kirsch said. “But the guys got it done. When you’re trying to win a title sometimes it’s not pretty.

“That was a typical final. It’s scrappy, it’s hard to find rhythm, because you’ve got two titans, two defensive teams fighting it out.”

On his goal Allegaert battled two Loyola players for possession of the high-bouncing ball. He won it and a quick dribble later Allegaert’s blast rocketed to the right of Loyola goalkeeper Christopher Stillwell and into the net with 20 minutes left in the second half.

“It was a miscommunication between their center-back and their goalkeeper,” Allegaert said. “I kind of poked it out in the middle of them, the ball was bouncing and I just put it in the top corner.”

Allegaert, who signed with UC San Diego, came close to a second goal seven minutes later. Jake Tatch made a perfect crossing pass, Allegaert made a diving effort to try to header it in but the ball sailed left of the goal.

Wilkins made it 2-0 by scoring on a header from in close with 10:38 remaining in the game. The goal came shortly after he entered the game as a substitute.

“I had just come on,” said Wilkins, who is 14 years old. “The ball was kind of already in play.  I jogged to the other side of the field and the ball came to me and I just tried to get my head on it.”

Allegaert had a couple of other chances, including a breakaway with four minutes to go. He made a nifty move around a Loyola player who then caught up with him before Allegaert fired a shot that Stillwell thwarted with a diving stop.

Loyola’s Will Hoshek, one of Friday’s better offensive players, had an excellent scoring chance with 23 minutes left in the second half. He slid behind the Lions back line, took a shot at the lower left corner but JSerra goaltender Liam Johnston hit the turf to send the ball the opposite direction.

After an evenly played first half JSerra was in control throughout the second half. The ball spent most of the second half on the Lions’ offensive side of the field.

The first half ended 0-0, although both teams had a handful of scoring chances. JSerra’s Angels Reyes took a fine pass from Brody Martinez, blasted a left-footed kick but the ball went directly into the chest of Stillwell who held on.

Johnston made more sharp stops in the first half. Hoshek got behind the Lions defense, Johnston came out quickly to cut down the angle and Hoshek’s kick rolled just wide of the left goalpost.

Loyola’s Josh Gallagher had a quality chance midway through the first half, but his kick bounced wide left. A few minutes later a header attempt by Allegaert popped over the top of the crossbar.

​ Orange County Register 

Iowa’s governor signs a bill removing gender identity protections from the state’s civil rights code

• March 1, 2025

By HANNAH FINGERHUT, Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa became the first U.S. state to remove gender identity protections from its civil rights code on Friday when Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that opponents say will expose transgender people and other Iowans to discrimination in all aspects of daily life.

The new law, which goes into effect July 1, follows several years of action from Reynolds and Iowa Republicans to restrict transgender students’ use of such spaces as bathrooms and locker rooms, and their participation on sports teams, in an effort to protect people assigned female at birth. Republicans say those policies cannot co-exist with a civil rights code that includes gender identity protections.

The law passed quickly after first being introduced last week. It also creates explicit legal definitions of female and male based on their reproductive organs at birth, rejecting the idea that a person can transition to another gender. Reynolds proposed a similar bill last year, but it didn’t make it to a vote of the full House or Senate.

Reynolds posted a video on social media explaining her signature on the bill and acknowledging that it was a “sensitive issue for some.”

“It’s common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women. In fact, it’s necessary to secure genuine equal protection for women and girls,” she said, adding that the previous civil rights code “blurred the biological line between the sexes.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to formalize a definition of the two sexes at the federal level, leading several Republican-led legislatures to push for laws defining male and female. Trump posted in support of the Iowa bill on his Truth Social platform Thursday after it got final approval from the Iowa House and Senate.

Five House Republicans joined all Democrats in the House and Senate in voting against the bill. Iowa state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl was the final Democrat to speak before the vote, wiping away tears as she offered her personal story as a transgender woman, saying: “I transitioned to save my life.”

“The purpose of this bill and the purpose of every anti-trans bill is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence,” Wichtendahl said. “The sum total of every anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal.”

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ advocates streamed into the Capitol rotunda on Thursday waving signs reading “Trans rights are human rights” and chanting slogans including, “No hate in our state!” There was a heavy police presence, with state troopers stationed around the rotunda. The few protesters who lingered for final passage of the bill were emotional.

Not every state includes gender identity in their civil rights code, but Iowa is now the first in the U.S. to remove nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity, said Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ+ rights think tank.

Sexual orientation and gender identity were not originally included in the state’s Civil Rights Act of 1965. They were added by the Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2007, also with the support of about a dozen Republicans across the two chambers.

The House Republican moving the bill Thursday, Rep. Steven Holt, said that if the Legislature can add protections, it can remove them.

As of July 1, Iowa’s civil rights law will protect against discrimination based on race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin or disability status.

Iowa’s Supreme Court has expressly rejected the argument that discrimination based on sex includes discrimination based on gender identity.

Advocacy groups promise to defend transgender rights, which may lead them to court.

Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy for LGBTQ+ advocacy group One Iowa, said the organization is still analyzing the text of the bill and that its vagueness makes it “hard to determine where the enforcement is going to come from.”

“We will pursue any legal options available to us,” Crow said.

​ Orange County Register 

Rams extend LT Alaric Jackson with 3-year, $57 million deal

• March 1, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Left tackle Alaric Jackson has agreed to terms on a three-year, $57 million deal to stay with the Rams, a person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because the Rams haven’t formally announced the deal with Jackson, their starting left tackle for the past two seasons.

Jackson is a former undrafted free agent who was a backup on the Rams’ Super Bowl championship team as a rookie in 2021. He became a starter at guard and tackle during the 2022 season despite struggling with injuries, and he seized the starting job at left tackle from Joseph Noteboom before the 2023 season.

Jackson has started 29 games over the past two seasons, establishing himself as a capable protector of Matthew Stafford’s blind side and an effective run-blocker. Jackson, who missed the first two games of last season under suspension for an undisclosed violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, played last season on his restricted free agent tender at $4.89 million.

He was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this spring, but the Rams instead locked him up through the 2027 season.

Jackson was the most important player on the Rams’ list of potential unrestricted free agents in the offseason, and he would have been among the NFL’s top echelon of free-agent offensive tackles.

Earlier Friday, the Rams also wrapped up several weeks of speculation about Stafford’s future by agreeing to a restructured contract with the Super Bowl-winning quarterback.

Jackson is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada who grew up both in Detroit and in Windsor, Ontario. He was a four-year starter at Iowa before signing with the Rams.

​ Orange County Register