Ocean dumping – or a climate solution? A growing industry bets on the ocean to capture carbon

• March 21, 2025

By HELEN WIEFFERING

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — From the grounds of a gas-fired power plant on the eastern shores of Canada, a little-known company is pumping a slurry of minerals into the ocean in the name of stopping climate change.

Whether it’s pollution or a silver bullet that will save the planet may depend on whom you ask.

From shore, a pipe releases a mixture of water and magnesium oxide — a powdery white mineral used in everything from construction to heartburn pills that Planetary Technologies, based in Nova Scotia, is betting will absorb more planet-warming gases into the sea.

“Restore the climate. Heal the ocean,” reads the motto stamped on a shipping container nearby.

Planetary is part of a growing industry racing to engineer a solution to global warming using the absorbent power of the oceans. It is backed by $1 million from Elon Musk’s foundation and competing for a prize of $50 million more.

Dozens of other companies and academic groups are pitching the same theory: that sinking rocks, nutrients, crop waste or seaweed in the ocean could lock away climate-warming carbon dioxide for centuries or more. Nearly 50 field trials have taken place in the past four years, with startups raising hundreds of millions in early funds.

But the field remains rife with debate over the consequences for the oceans if the strategies are deployed at large scale, and over the exact benefits for the climate. Critics say the efforts are moving too quickly and with too few guardrails.

“It’s like the Wild West. Everybody is on the bandwagon, everybody wants to do something,” said Adina Paytan, who teaches earth and ocean science at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Planetary, like most of the ocean startups, is financing its work by selling carbon credits — or tokens representing one metric ton of carbon dioxide removed from the air. Largely unregulated and widely debated, carbon credits have become popular this century as a way for companies to purchase offsets rather than reduce emissions themselves. Most credits are priced at several hundred dollars apiece.

The industry sold more than 340,000 marine carbon credits last year, up from just 2,000 credits four years ago, according to the tracking site CDR.fyi. But that amount of carbon removal is a tiny fraction of what scientists say will be required to keep the planet livable for centuries to come.

Those leading the efforts, including Will Burt, Planetary’s chief ocean scientist, acknowledge they’re entering uncharted territory — but say the bigger danger for the planet and the oceans is not moving quickly enough.

“We need to understand if it’s going to work or not. The faster we do, the better.”

Vacuuming carbon into the sea

Efforts to capture carbon dioxide have exploded in recent years.

Most climate models now show that cutting emissions won’t be enough to curb global warming, according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The world needs to actively remove heat-trapping gases, as well — and the ocean could be a logical place to capture them.

Money has already poured into different strategies on land — among them, pumping carbon dioxide from the air, developing sites to store carbon underground and replanting forests, which naturally store CO2. But many of those projects are limited by space and could impact nearby communities. The ocean already regulates Earth’s climate by absorbing heat and carbon, and by comparison, it seems limitless.

“Is that huge surface area an option to help us deal with and mitigate the worst effects of climate change?” asked Adam Subhas, who is leading a carbon removal project with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

On a Tuesday afternoon along the edge of Halifax Harbour, Burt stashed his bike helmet and donned a hard hat to give two engineering students a tour of Planetary’s site.

A detached truck trailer sat in a clearing, storing massive bags of magnesium oxide mined in Spain and shipped across the Atlantic to Canada.

Most companies looking offshore for climate solutions are trying to reduce or transform the carbon dioxide stored in the ocean. If they can achieve that, Burt said, the oceans will act “like a vacuum” to absorb more gases from the air.

Planetary is using magnesium oxide to create that vacuum. When dissolved into seawater, it transforms carbon dioxide from a gas to stable molecules that won’t interact with the atmosphere for thousands of years. Limestone, olivine and other alkaline rocks have the same effect.

Other companies are focused on growing seaweed and algae to capture the gas. These marine organisms act like plants on land, absorbing carbon dioxide from the ocean just as trees do from the air. The company Gigablue, for instance, has begun pouring nutrients in New Zealand waters to grow tiny organisms known as phytoplankton where they otherwise couldn’t survive.

Still others view the deepest parts of the ocean as a place to store organic material that would emit greenhouse gases if left on land.

Companies have sunk wood chips off the coast of Iceland and are planning to sink Sargassum, a yellowish-brown seaweed, to extreme depths. The startup Carboniferous is preparing a federal permit to place sugarcane pulp at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, also referred to as the Gulf of America as declared by President Donald Trump.

Though Planetary’s work can sound like some “scary science experiment,” Burt said, the company’s testing so far suggests that magnesium oxide poses minimal risks to marine ecosystems, plankton or fish. The mineral has long been used at water treatment plants and industrial facilities to de-acidify water.

Halifax Harbour is just one location where Planetary hopes to operate. The company has set up another site at a wastewater treatment plant in coastal Virginia and plans to begin testing in Vancouver later this year.

According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the industry needs to remove billions of tons of carbon dioxide per year by mid-century to meet climate goals set nearly a decade ago during the Paris climate agreement.

“The whole point here is to mitigate against a rapidly accelerating climate crisis,” Burt said. “We have to act with safety and integrity, but we also have to act fast.”

‘Twisted in knots’

While there’s broad enthusiasm in the industry, coastal communities aren’t always quick to jump on board.

In North Carolina, a request to dump shiploads of olivine near the beachside town of Duck prompted questions that downsized the project by more than half.

The company Vesta, formed in 2021, promotes the greenish-hued mineral as a tool to draw down carbon into the ocean and create mounds that buffer coastal towns from storm surges and waves.

During the permitting process, officials at the state Wildlife Resources Commission, Division of Marine Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raised a long list of concerns.

“As proposed, the project is a short term study with the potential for long term impacts and no remediation plans,” a field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Service wrote. The agencies said olivine could smother the seafloor ecosystem and threaten a hotspot for sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon.

Vesta CEO Tom Green said the company never expected its original application to be approved as written. “It’s more the start of a dialogue with regulators and the community,” he said.

The project went forward last summer with a much smaller scope, a restoration plan, and more detailed requirements to monitor deep-water species. Eight thousand metric tons of olivine shipped from Norway are now submerged beneath North Carolina’s waves.

Green said he understands why people are skeptical, and that he tries to remind them Vesta’s goal is to save the environment, not to harm it. It’s the company’s job, he says, “to show up in local communities, physically show up, and listen and share our data and build trust that way.”

Fishing communities have opposed another climate project led by Subhas of the Woods Hole research center that has generated 10 months of conversation and debate.

The project as proposed last spring would have poured 66,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide solution into ocean waters near Cape Cod. Woods Hole later proposed downsizing the project to use less than 17,000 gallons of the chemical, with federal approval still pending.

In two separate reviews, the Environmental Protection Agency said it believes the project’s scientific merit outweighs the environmental risks, and noted it doesn’t foresee “unacceptable impacts” on water quality or fishing.

But fifth-generation fisherman Jerry Leeman III wants to know what will happen to the lobster, pollock and flounder eggs that float in the water column and on the ocean surface if they are suddenly doused with the harsh chemical.

“Are you telling all the fishermen not to fish in this area while you’re doing this project? And who compensates these individuals for displacing everybody?” he said.

Subhas’ team expects the chemical’s most potent concentrations to last for less than two minutes in the ocean before it’s diluted. They’ve also agreed to delay or relocate the project if schools of fish or patches of fish eggs are visible in the surrounding waters.

Sarah Schumann, who fishes commercially for bluefish in Rhode Island and leads a campaign for “fishery friendly” climate action, said after attending four listening sessions she’s still unsure how to balance her support for the research with the apprehension she hears in the fishing community.

“If I was actually trying to decide where I land on this issue, I’d be twisted in knots,” she said.

And Planetary, which has seen little pushback from locals along Halifax Harbour, faced a series of protests against a climate project it proposed in Cornwall, England.

In April last year, more than a hundred people marched along a beach carrying signs that read “Keep our sea chemical free.”

Sue Sayer, who runs a research group studying seals, said she realized in discussions with Planetary that “they had no idea about what animals or plants or species live in St. Ives Bay.” The company’s initial release of magnesium hydroxide into the bay, she said, fired up a community that is “massively, scientifically passionate about the sea.”

David Santillo, a senior scientist with Greenpeace Research Laboratories at the University of Exeter, took issue with how Planetary proposed tracking the impact of its work. According to a recorded presentation viewed by AP, the company’s baseline measurements in Cornwall were drawn from just a few days.

“If you don’t have a baseline over a number of years and seasons,” Santillo said, “you don’t know whether you would even be able to detect any of your effects.”

An audit commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency found that Planetary’s experiments posed a “very low” risk to marine life, and a potential for significant carbon removal.

Still, the company put its proposal to pump another 200 metric tons of minerals on pause. Following a government recommendation, Planetary said it would search for a source of magnesium hydroxide closer to the Cornwall site, rather than shipping it from China. It also assured locals that it wouldn’t sell carbon credits from its past chemical release.

Sara Nawaz, research director at American University’s Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal, said she understood why scientists sometimes struggle to connect with communities and gain their support. Early research shows the public is reluctant to the idea of “engineering” the climate.

Many people have a strong emotional connection to the ocean, she added. There’s a fear that once you put something in the ocean, “you can’t take it back.”

The great unknowns

It’s not just locals who have questions about whether these technologies will work. Scientists, too, have acknowledged major unknowns. But some of the principles behind the technologies have been studied for decades by now, and the laboratory can only simulate so much.

During a recent EPA listening session about the Woods Hole project, a chorus of oceanographers and industry supporters said it’s time for ocean-scale tests.

“There’s an urgency to move ahead and conduct this work,” said Ken Buesseler, another Woods Hole scientist who studies the carbon captured by algae.

Even so, the ocean is a dynamic, challenging landscape to work in. Scientists are still uncovering new details about how it absorbs and recycles carbon, and any materials they add to seawater are liable to sink, become diluted or wash away to other locations, challenging efforts to track how the ocean responds.

“It’s so hard to get the ocean to do what you want it to,” said Sarah Cooley, a carbon cycle scientist who has worked for the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy and the federal government.

Katja Fennel, chair of the oceanography department at Dalhousie University, works on modeling how much carbon Planetary has captured in Halifax Harbour— a number that comes with some uncertainty.

She co-leads a group of academics that monitors the company’s project using water samples, sensors and sediment cores taken from locations around the bay. Some days, her team adds a red dye to the pipes to watch how the minerals dissolve and flow out to sea.

The models are necessary to simulate what would happen if Planetary did nothing, Fennel said. They’re also necessary because the ocean is so large and deep it’s impossible to collect enough data to give a complete picture of it.

“We can’t measure everywhere all the time,” she said.

Questions also linger about how long the carbon capture will last.

It’s a point especially important to companies working with algae, wood chips, or other organic materials, because depending on where they decompose, they could release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

The deeper the plants and algae sink, the longer the carbon stays locked away. But that’s no easy feat to ensure. Running Tide, a now-shuttered company that sank nearly 20,000 metric tons of wood chips in Icelandic waters, said carbon could be sequestered for as long as three millennia or as little as 50 years.

Even if these solutions do work long term, most companies are operating on too small of a scale to influence the climate. Expanding to meet current climate goals will take massive amounts of resources, energy and money.

“The question is, what happens when you scale it up to billions of tons every year?” said David Ho, co-founder and chief science officer of the nonprofit (C)Worthy, which works on verifying the impact of ocean-based carbon removal. “And that’s still to be determined.”

Planetary’s Burt imagines a future in which minerals are pumped out through power plants and water treatment facilities on every major coastline in the world. But that would require a large, steady volume of magnesium oxide or similar minerals, along with the energy to mine and transport them.

Seaweed and algae growth would need to expand exponentially. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has estimated that nearly two-thirds of the world’s coastline would need to be encircled by kelp to even begin to make a dent in global warming. The company Seafields, which is running tests in the Caribbean, says it envisions building a Sargassum farm between Brazil and West Africa more than 200 miles wide.

There’s the risk that these expansions exacerbate environmental harm that isn’t detectable in small trials, and because of global water circulation, could be felt around the world.

But the alternative to never trying, Ho said, is unabated climate change.

Running out of time

Late last year, Planetary announced that its Nova Scotia project successfully captured 138 metric tons of carbon – allowing it to deliver exactly 138 carbon credits to two of the company’s early investors, Shopify and Stripe.

Monetizing the work is uncomfortable for many who study the ocean.

“On one hand, it’s encouraging more research and more science, which is good. On the other hand, it’s opening doors for abuse of the system,” said Paytan, the Santa Cruz professor, who has been contacted by several startups asking to collaborate.

She pointed to companies that are accused of drastically overestimating the carbon they sequestered, though they bragged of restoring rainforests in Peru and replacing smoke-producing stoves in Africa.

But absent more government-funded research, several companies told AP there’s little way for the field to advance without selling credits.

“Unfortunately, that’s the way we’ve set things up now, is that we put it in the hands of these startups to develop the techniques,” said Ho.

Back in his shipping container office along Halifax Harbour, Burt said he understood the unease around selling credits, and said Planetary takes seriously the need to operate openly, responsibly and cautiously. But he also says there’s a need for startups that can move at a faster pace than academia.

“We cannot study this solution at the same rate that we’ve been studying the problems,” he said. He says there’s not enough time.

Last year marked the hottest year in Earth’s history, even as global carbon emissions are projected to reach another all-time high.

“We need to reduce emissions urgently, drastically,” said Fennel, the researcher studying Planetary’s project. “Any removal of CO2 from the atmosphere is much more difficult and costly than avoiding CO2 emissions to begin with.”

The industry continues to push forward. Planetary said in February that it had sequestered a total of 1,000 metric tons of carbon in the ocean, and Carboniferous completed its first test of sinking sugarcane to the seafloor. Early this year, Gigablue signed a deal for 200,000 carbon credits for dispersing nutrient-filled particles in the ocean.

A growing number of companies are also using electricity to alter seawater molecules, with the same goal of prompting the ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide. The startup Ebb Carbon recently struck a deal with Microsoft to provide up to 350,000 carbon credits, and Captura, which is funded in part by investors affiliated with oil and gas production, expanded its operations from California to Hawaii.

It’s unclear whether the U.S. government will stall or support ocean climate work going forward. The policy landscape continues to shift as the Trump administration seeks to roll back a wide range of environmental regulations and reconsider the scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health.

Though White House adviser Musk has downplayed some of his past statements about global warming, four years ago his foundation committed $100 million to fund a competition for the best solution for carbon capture, of which Planetary is in the running for the top prize.

The winner will be announced April 23 — the day after Earth Day.

This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/

​ Orange County Register 

LAFC takes advantage of time to regroup ahead of Kansas City trip

• March 21, 2025

Nkosi Tafari was acquired by the Los Angeles Football Club on Jan. 23. Two months later, the lanky central defender and his new team have gotten in just three weeks of uninterrupted training.

For the first time since the start of LAFC’s competitive calendar, which was congested with midweek matches after opening in Colorado on Feb. 18, the group had a moment to rest, decompress and practice in earnest following their eighth game in 26 days, a 1-0 loss last weekend at home to Austin FC.

“For us it’s great to have some training sessions to get back into better habits and this week has been excellent,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said before the Black & Gold battle with Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday.

“When you’re playing game to game the training sessions and the actual time you can load between games is maybe 40 minutes tops,” he noted, “it’s really difficult to work on your deficiencies and create a match plan for the up and coming opponent that changes every three days.”

Without the burden of a midweek match until CONCACAF Champions Cup returns with a quarterfinal series on April 2 and April 9 versus Inter Miami CF, LAFC has eight full training sessions to work in detail and hammer out players’ questions or concerns coming off the mad-dash start to the year.

Leading up to the match against Sporting, which lost both legs in Round 1 of the Champions Cup to Miami and is 0-3-1 in MLS play so far, LAFC “is making the right steps,” Tafari said.

Still, there remains a need to find chemistry on the field, a sort of unspoken understanding as Tafari sees it. The 27-year-old native of New York City said he and his teammates are working to develop a “real, deal fluidity” that can’t be forced and has thus far eluded them in 2025.

“I think right now we do look a little bit discombobulated,” Tafari suggested. “It looks like there’s a little bit of friction, which is fine — we have a lot of new moving pieces so it complicates things.”

Adding to the challenge in Kansas City, Denis Bouanga is on international duty in Africa as Gabon participates in World Cup qualifiers. LAFC’s leading scorer the past two seasons connected on a pair of goals in a win for his country on Thursday over Seychelles. Gabon plays Sunday in Nairobi against Kenya, but Bouanga should return in time for LAFC’s first-ever match at San Diego FC on the 29th.

Nathan Ordaz, called up by El Salvador for a friendly against the Houston Dynamo, will be available to play SKC.

As Olivier Giroud nurses a minor leg injury and visits Paris to be honored by the French national team on Sunday, Jeremy Ebobisse should feature in the middle of an attack that’s producing a little more than a goal a game.

“When you look at some of our results they’ve been tight games and as an attacker — I know my fellow attackers feel the same way — we want to be doing more to provide some cushions for the team,” said Ebobisse, who has a goal and an assist in seven appearances with LAFC. “All things we hope will be ironed out this weekend and beyond.”

Acknowledging that mental lapses in the early part of the season undercut how they want to play, Ebobisse shared that LAFC (2-2-0) huddled up as a group this week “to get back to what we think makes us best.”

Said Tafari: “I think Jeremy hit the nail on the head with that.”

LAFC AT SPORTING KANSAS CITY

When: Saturday, 5:39 p.m.

Where: Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City

TV/Radio: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass/710 AM, 980 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Spring Breakers beware: Thieves are sending your stolen phone to China. Here’s how you can prevent it

• March 21, 2025

Collin McMinn stood in a dense crowd at III Points music festival in Miami when two large men shoved through his group of friends. His iPhone 13 was gone within seconds, swiped from his pocket in the chaos.

“I hate that I’m so connected to my phone, like most of society, but that immediate anxiety and scared feeling was very prominent,” McMinn said.

Police officers stationed around the festival told McMinn that he was about the 30th person to report a stolen phone — and there was nothing they could do.

When he returned to his hotel, his fiancée received an unexpected call from the stolen phone. “Apparently some kid tackled the dude that had my phone,” McMinn said.

Jacob Jomarron had wrapped his arm around the thief’s neck, tripping the man with his foot and slamming him to the concrete. He frantically patted the pickpocket’s clothes, lifting up the thief’s shirt to reveal a bodysuit — and 25 phones, strapped to the criminal’s chest, arms and back.

The thief then vanished into the crowd, Jomarron and McMinn’s iPhones clattering on the ground as he ran.

“We waited, stayed up and (Jomarron) walked to the hotel, brought (my phone) to me,” McMinn said. “I gave him 50 bucks because he’s such a champ for that. And I made a friend out of it.”

Jomarron and McMinn’s story is just one example of a nationwide phone theft crisis that has taken hold in South Florida. Thieves are trained in elaborate pickpocketing techniques, distracting victims by shoving them or pretending to flirt with them. They grab phones from purses and pockets at nightclubs and music festivals, sending smartphones overseas to be stripped for parts, and putting the owners’ critical information at risk as they pillage financial institutions and saved passwords.

Most victims are women, tourists, or young people, groups who consistently take out their phone and are followed by pickpockets. In Fort Lauderdale, the number of phone theft reports skyrockets during Spring Break, usually between the hours of midnight to 4 a.m.

How thefts happen

Walking through a dance floor can be dangerous. While clubbers are enjoying a song and holding their hands in the air during a beat drop, thieves take advantage of the moment.

“Crowds would be an effective choice (for thieves) too; you have to be able to move through them relatively quickly and get out,” Michigan State criminal justice professor Tom Holt said. “Any kind of space where it’s dark, you’re not necessarily paying a ton of attention. You might be more inclined to put it down on a seat or a table and you take a drink.”

Some criminals may sell a phone to a local vendor, similar to jewelry being swiped and sold at a pawn shop. Other thieves are part of sophisticated groups, putting phones in airplane mode and inside electromagnetic blocking Faraday bags so the phones cannot be detected with tracking features.

“Normally it’s not one person, it’s one, two, or three people distracting and one actually handling the phone and either taking off or giving it to somebody else. Even in a nightclub there has to be somebody on watch,” said Mehran Basiratmand, director of programs and innovation at Florida Atlantic University. He previously spent 22 years as the chief technology officer for the university.

When multiple phones are reported as stolen at Club Space in Miami, security waves people with handheld metal detectors as they exit the nightclub.

“If they have multiple phones on them, we will make them unlock the phone,” former Club Space and Factory Town bouncer Zarrian White said.

Factory Town, a multi-stage music venue in Hialeah, had 18 larceny reports in 2022 but leaped to 90 reports in 2024. Despite the number of theft reports, the venue is open only a select few nights of the year for special events like New Year’s Eve.

Fort Lauderdale Police received 1,282 cellphone theft reports in 2023 and 1,050 reports in 2024. The locations with the most thefts include Dicey Riley’s Irish Pub, Sway, Munchie’s, Cafe Ibiza, and Rock Bar.

“There’s certain (phone stealing) crews. We have quite a few South American crews, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba coming up,” said Patrick O’Brien, a Fort Lauderdale sergeant in charge of larceny. “These are the groups that infiltrate Tortuga Music Festival, but they don’t just infiltrate Tortuga; they’re looking for nationwide music festivals, things like Mardi Gras, looking for large crowds that are going to be people really squeezed together.”

The business of stealing phones

The rise of phone thieves can be linked to the increased cost of cellphones. Due to the high turnover rates as new models of phones are released, there is always a resale market for used smartphones. Apple’s newest model, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, currently sells for $1,199. Replacing a cracked iPhone screen could cost $400.

“If vendors can get the screens cheaply from stolen phones, they’ll take them apart and sell the parts. If you’re a third-party vendor that fixes phones, if you can get the screen for example, you get a great discount, you can then make a larger profit, and fix the phones,” said Thomas Hyslip, assistant professor of instruction at the University of South Florida’s cybercrime program. Hyslip spent 23 years in federal law enforcement for cybercrime investigations and digital forensics.

Although iPhones are targeted for their large user base and high resale prices, older models of all phone brands still contain pieces that can be refurbished by experts. In addition to screens, there is a high demand for modem chips that allow devices to connect to the internet.

Cameras and phone cases are resold as well. Because components such as the screen are needed to make the device functional, there is nothing that can be done to lower a phone’s value to thieves.

“I’m assuming they’re getting hundreds of dollars for each one. So if they go out and get five phones in a night, they pay $1,000. It’s a pretty good night for those people,” Hyslip said.

In July 2023, Cody Szymanski left his phone in an Uber in Wilton Manors. It traveled to Miami before being tracked to China three months later. After almost a year and a half of no updates, it pinged for the final time in January 2025. The phone had landed in Shenzhen, a high-tech city known as the Silicon Valley of China.

“It was in that area where everybody’s phone ends up. It’s like they go back to the motherland,” Szymanski said.

Shenzhen, China: The motherland of stolen phones

China is the world’s largest market for both new and used smartphones, according to Adam Minter, an author of two books on secondhand industries who lived in China for 12 years as a recycling and reuse correspondent. Hong Kong is on the border of Shenzhen, and due to the concentration of market demand, the cities have become global hubs for the resale and distribution of secondhand phones.

“You have hundreds of thousands of people who have grown up working, learning within the smartphone industry. They’ve worked the lines, they’ve worked in the labs, and they know intricately how to refurbish a used phone so that it looks new,” Minter said. “They have access to a massive parts ecosystem. Remember, most of the world’s phones are made in the Pearl River Delta, which comprises Shenzhen and Hong Kong.”

People who work at legitimate warehouses manufacturing phones may spend their nights or their weekends taking apart stolen phones at third-party factories, according to Hyslip.

“Probably the person who stole your phone in Miami has no real connection to Shenzhen other than maybe they make a drop shipment of 10 phones a month into Hong Kong or Shenzhen,” Minter said. “But that’s not a vast criminal enterprise. That’s something much harder to crack.”

When Sgt. O’Brien began investigating the phone theft problem in Fort Lauderdale, he contacted the FBI. They told him they have a liaison in China working on the case.

Although a phone’s location may ping for the last time in Shenzhen, the parts stripped from a device can be sent all over the world, to places such as West Africa or the Middle East.

Because a majority of stolen phones are shipped to China, there is little the United States can do besides taking extreme legal action, such as economic sanctions, against the country, according to Holt. While the U.S. could engage in small-scale takedowns of pickpockets, it would do little to halt the sweeping network that supports the thefts.

“We could do more, but it’s very hard to do anything that has real teeth given the problem is domestically within China with fingers out to different local groups that are scoring the broader items in different countries,” Holt said.

Personal data at risk

If a phone is locked with a passcode, personal data remains safe. Apple allows for a remote data wipe of stolen phones through the Find My tracking feature.

“The best stuff you can get on an encrypted phone is you might be able to get any phone number, the model, the manufacturer, the self service provider. But you’re not going to get any personal data, no text messages, no pictures, nothing like that without advanced techniques that law enforcement uses,” Hyslip said.

If the device is unlocked, the risk is far greater. Although it is useful to have usernames and passwords stored inside the phone, safety is sacrificed for convenience. The multifactor authentication that is used to log into everything from banking apps to homework portals involves a code being sent to the phone number, blocking people from accessing important information on their computers.

“(Criminals) get into the financial institution, get credit card information, buy items on the credit card. If people have their Apple Pay or Google Pay configured on their phone, it could be an authorized use of the device,” Basiratmand said.

Not every theft occurs at a music festival or a nightclub. Amy Alvarez had her Samsung Galaxy phone and her wallet swiped at a HomeGoods store in Sunrise in 2024. While one man distracted her by holding up pillows, the other went inside her purse. She chased the thief outside the building and asked an officer to help her. The officer said that they weren’t assigned to Sunrise and that Alvarez would have to wait for other police to arrive.

“How do I call the places to cancel my credit cards? (Police officers said to) go home and use your husband’s phone,” Alvarez said. “I don’t have a husband. I don’t have children. I don’t have anybody; where am I supposed to go to call to cancel my credit cards?”

Alvarez’s phone and wallet were returned when a shopper found them hidden between racks of pillows. Similarly, Brittany Lawerence found her stolen iPhone 15 inside a plastic planter on the street in Wynwood in Miami. She used Apple’s Find My feature to track it after it was swiped from a table at Coyo Taco.

“Sometimes they’ll shut it off and they don’t want to walk around with stolen property for fear of possibly being stopped by the police, so what they’ll do is they’ll drop them off somewhere,” O’Brien said. “Two years ago we found a bag of stolen phones from downtown in a plastic bag on the side of the road and some bushes.”

The perils of losing a phone

Having a phone stolen can quickly put people in a dangerous situation. Phone numbers of friends and family members are not always memorized, and Generation Z relies on Apple Pay without carrying credit cards or cash.

“It turns into a safety issue, not only is this person’s personal information potentially going with the phone, so is their ability to contact their friends or to contact an Uber to get them back to their safe place,” Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokesperson Casey Liening said.

A lost phone offers an especially difficult challenge for tourists, who often have airline tickets, hotel check-in information and itinerary details stored digitally. If they are traveling solo, the tourist is trapped in a foreign country, possibly in a place where no one speaks English, navigating the process of transferring their phone number without a way to communicate.

While many have a contingency plan for lost luggage, stashing underwear and toothpaste in a carry-on, that same level of care is not applied to packing an additional cheap smartphone.

“Normally when I travel overseas, I always have a second phone with me just in case something happens,” Basiratmand said. “I have literally two numbers. Call me paranoid, but one is normally in the hotel and the other one’s with me. In case something happens, I can easily block the other number and make sure nobody can get to my phone.”

Losing a phone results in the stress of transferring a phone number, redownloading data, remembering the passwords for apps, and verifying security questions for financial institutions. According to Basiratmand, people use their phones for over four hours a day as an entertainment, educational, and productivity tool.

“People take (phones) for granted. I notice most people, unless they lose it, they don’t appreciate how much hassle it is to kind of get to the point where they could actually fully utilize their device,” Basiratmand said.

Although people take precautions while carrying a luxury handbag, the same attitude is not applied to cellphones. It is common to misplace a phone, asking a friend to call it as couch cushions are overturned.

“We wouldn’t wave a thousand dollars in cash around publicly, but we do that with our phone all the time,” Holt said.

Police involvement

Even if a phone can be tracked to an exact address, police will not raid the home.

“We need a lot of evidence; you would need a positive identification on a suspect that walked in there,” O’Brien said. “iPhones, although the GPS is pretty accurate, a judge really won’t sign off on a search warrant unless you have more than just the phone pinging at that address, because in the past, it’s been shown that the pinging is not accurate. It could be the house next door.”

Victims can apply for a search warrant, which could take three to five days, according to Hyslip. By that time, the phone may be enroute to China, and many search warrant requests do not get approved at all.

“The police have limited resources and it’s a thousand dollars; it’s a lot of work for them to get that search warrant. It’s a low-value loss. You go look for someone’s car or you go look for a stolen phone,” Hyslip said.

Fort Lauderdale has been cracking down on phone thefts, keeping track of stolen phone statistics instead of generalizing thefts under the broad category of larceny. Undercover cops populate downtown bars and music festivals, and public awareness campaigns about pickpockets have been implemented. The police made an effort to halt phone thefts at Tortuga after they caught 23 stolen phones in 2022. Only eight phones were reported as stolen in 2024 as opposed to 204 phones in 2022.

“If you know you’re going to be in a heavily crowded area like a bar or a music festival, we just want you to be hyper-aware that there are also people there to specifically target stealing cellphones,” Liening said.

How to prevent a phone theft

• Never keep your phone in your pocket.
• Don’t wear a low-hanging bag. Ensure that the zipper is protected by your armpit. Anti-theft hydration backpacks are a good choice for music festivals.
• Wear a fanny pack.
• No matter what kind of bag you have, protect the zipper with your hand when navigating through extremely crowded areas.
• Hide your phone in a flip belt underneath your clothes.
• Utilize a phone wrist strap or a bag tether.
• Bring cash or credit cards instead of relying on Apple Pay.
• Never keep your credit card or ID inside your phone case.
• Memorize reliable phone numbers to call if your phone is stolen.
• Take out your phone as little as possible.
• Purchase phone theft insurance.
• Password-protect your phone lockscreen.
• Never auto-save passwords to financial institutions.
• Regularly back up photos, messages and other data.
• When changing locations, ensure that you have your phone and that your bag is zipped closed.

Once your phone is stolen

• Notify venue security or nearby police officers.
• Check the location of the phone using tracking features.
• Remotely erase the phone to protect personal data.
• Cancel credit cards and notify financial institutions.
• Do not send the password to unlock it even if you receive threatening text messages–your data will be stolen.
• Transfer phone number to a new device and download recovered data.

​ Orange County Register 

Hegseth says he’ll meet with Musk at the Pentagon to discuss ‘efficiencies’

• March 21, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said late Thursday that he would be meeting with billionaire Elon Musk at the Pentagon Friday to discuss “innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”

Musk, a top adviser to President Donald Trump, and his Department of Government Efficiency have played an integral role in the administration’s push to dramatically reduce the size of the government. Musk has faced intense blowback from some lawmakers and voters for his chainsaw-wielding approach to laying off workers and slashing programs, although Trump’s supporters have hailed it.

A senior defense official told reporters Tuesday that roughly 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs will be cut in the Defense Department.

In a post on Musk’s X platform, Hegseth emphasized that “this is NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans,’” denying a story published by The New York Times late Thursday.

Hegseth is also scheduled to deliver remarks with Trump at the White House Friday morning.

​ Orange County Register 

Be careful when renewing your license — or you could lose the Real ID

• March 21, 2025

Q: Hi Honk, I have a weird question to ask. Some years ago I got the California Real ID.  And when my license came it had the California bear with a star in it in the upper-right corner of the license. I just noticed that my new license, which I got two years ago, has the words “Federal Limits Apply” with no bear or star. Is it considered a Real ID, or do I have to go through the whole process again?

– Jim Stedt, San Clemente

A: No, Jim, you no longer have a Real ID.

But, thanks to Geovana Herrera, a spokeswoman for the Department of Motor Vehicles, and a co-worker or two, you won’t have to provide your documents again to get that Real ID.

When people renew their licenses, they are asked if they want the Real ID.

“In California, customers have the option to add or remove the Real ID selection at the time of application or renewal,” Herrera told Honk in an email. “Customers going through renewal/application process must ensure they choose the Real ID option, if they want to use their driver’s license or ID card to enter secure federal facilities or board domestic flights.”

Jim told Honk: “Since I already had it, I didn’t check the box.”

So be careful, folks.

Those realizing they went down the same path as Jim can call the DMV at 800-777-0133.

“I got a call from your DMV contact today, and she said they will re-cut a new corrected license and send it to me so I won’t have to go in!” a happy Jim told Honk. “I was sweating it there for a while!”

Those with the Real ID on a license or a state-issued ID don’t ever have to re-submit paperwork for it; if one moves, though, proof of the new residence is required.

The Real ID — finally — kicks in on May 7. Some other IDs can be used as well, such as passports.

Q: Hey Honk: At the interchange of the 55 and 91 freeways there are three very tall light standards that have been dark for more than six months. At night, this is a dangerous area. What gives?

– Bob Wolkowicz, Anaheim Hills

A: Those three light clusters, Bob, are on poles that reach up 180 feet into the sky.

Workers can replace the lights by lowering them via a durable steel cable and then return them up top and lock them into place.

They have been victims — like so many other street and freeway lighting systems — of vandals. Many of the thieves will then hawk the wiring.

“Several months ago, our service cabinets and wiring were vandalized at this location,” Sheilah Fortenberry, a Caltrans spokesperson, told Honk via email. “All our wiring and mechanisms used to power up the lights were stolen. There is no estimated time for repairs yet, as we are waiting for the delivery of necessary supplies to complete the repairs.”

HONKIN’ FACT: One method used by California Highway Patrol officers to determine a driver’s speed is “bumper pace.” CHP officer and spokesman Duane Graham, who is out of the Westminster station, explained: “Bumper pace is simply where the officer matches the speed of the patrol vehicle to the speed of the violator. … This can be done from directly behind or … at various distances away.”

To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. To see his columns on X: @OCRegisterHonk

​ Orange County Register 

Democrats’ new internet strategy tops trending charts but also draws mockery from allies and foes

• March 21, 2025

By MATT BROWN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — For weeks, Democratic lawmakers have met with and mimicked figures they believe may offer them a path back to power in Washington: online influencers and content creators.

Hours before President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress this month, Senate Democrats huddled with a dozen online progressive personalities who have millions of followers. House Democrats were introduced, without staff, to 40 content creators who Democratic leaders said could help them grow their audience online.

An earlier tutorial session in February featured online personalities like the YouTube commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.

The result has been a burst of Democratic online content, including direct-to-camera explainers in parked cars, scripted vertical videos, podcast appearances and livestreams — some topping trending charts online, others drawing mockery from liberal allies and Republicans in Congress.

But while the Democratic Party is largely divided over the path forward after last year’s election losses, party leaders agree that, no matter the message, how they connect with voters in the digital media landscape will be key to a political comeback.

Democrats are aiming to double engagement with digital content

More than a dozen Democratic senators, asked about the party’s digital strategy, pointed to Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey as the architect of their new push.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth of Democratic senators now. They’re engaging in the tools and strategies necessary to elevate their voice in a new, changing media market, where legacy media is not the place that people get their news now,” Booker said. “We’re just weeks into this, but just by making key changes … we’re seeing a massive growth in engagement with the content that our senators are creating, and we’ve only just begun.”

Booker said he’s aiming for Democratic senators to double online engagement with their content over the next year — and early metrics have been noticeable. Democratic senators racked up more than 87 million views on content they published in response to Trump’s joint address to Congress, according to Booker’s office.

But the Democrats’ digital efforts also draw Republican mockery

Not all of that online engagement is positive. After more than two dozen Democratic senators posted identical scripted videos knocking Trump’s speech, saying he should have addressed the cost of living and his support for billionaire adviser Elon Musk, conservatives mocked them as inauthentic and out of touch.

“They are all actors reading a script,” Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he owns.

There’s no doubt that Democrats are playing catch-up. Trump and his fellow Republicans built a digital operation that fed on bombast and celebrity, and it’s a strategy they’ve taken with them to the White House. Official government accounts are new filled with right-wing memes, cinematic videos and pugnacious statements.

The Democratic embrace of influencers has also yielded mixed early results. Democrats were ridiculed online after a food and wellness influencer who attended the House Democrats’ creators event created a “Choose Your Fighter” video collage of Democratic congresswomen for Women’s History Month.

The White House posted a video in response that read “America chose its fighters last November,” and the Pentagon, normally known for being studiously non-partisan, posted a video stating “We chose our fighters a long time ago.”

But Booker and other Democratic leaders don’t consider the sneers to be a downside. Missteps are to be expected, they say, but the path to Americans’ attention will require some discomfort from lawmakers.

“I do think that the caucus as a whole is trying to figure out how we show people that we are real people,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, one of the congresswomen featured in the viral “Fighter” video. Crockett, whose posts regularly garner millions of views online, said she was used to criticism for her often frank statements and was more interested in combating perceptions that Democrats are “elitist” or “robotic.”

“I didn’t like the jumping, I’m going to be honest, though,” Crockett added about the viral “Choose Your Fighter” video.

Trump prompts a more aggressive digital posture

Democrats adopted a more combative stance online in recent weeks as Trump’s moves to slash the federal workforce drew protests from liberals and pushback at GOP town halls. Top Democratic digital operatives who worked for the 2024 presidential campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris have been in high demand, with many Democrats anticipating close 2026 races in which digital strategies may be key.

Some of the most prominent Democrats across the country have been engaging more in new media since the election. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has touted the party’s message on progressive podcasts over the last month, including from the comedian Jon Stewart and the progressive outlet MeidasTouch. Clips of those videos were also lampooned online but garnered millions of views.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028, has launched a podcast of his own on which he has welcomed close Trump allies like the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and former Trump aide Steve Bannon to discuss hot-button political topics.

“We want to make sure we hit the podcasters that normally don’t have Democrats on there,” said Rep. Derek Tran, a Democrat from a competitive California House district. “The ones that are more right-leaning or independent, and be able to address a crowd and an audience that’s not typical for the Democratic base.”

Democrats divide on message vs. messaging

Some House Democrats have expressed frustration that the guidance from Democratic leaders about social media is too vague, while others grumble that leaders are too prescriptive in their approach to messaging on platforms they don’t intuitively understand. Meanwhile, Democratic strategists have cautioned lawmakers that garnering attention online is secondary to the goal of using social media as a tool in specific policy fights and campaigns.

“I think there’s a fine line before we’re being cringe and trying too hard and seeming too thirsty. I think the most important thing in any of this is being as authentic and genuine as we can be,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif.

“When it comes to authenticity, it also means leaning into what makes each of us unique. Like many of my colleagues probably should not be doing ‘get ready with me’ videos. It would look super cringe. But I’m a 36-year-old woman, and I do my makeup all the time, and I watch a lot of makeup tutorial videos, so it makes sense for me to do it,” said Jacobs.

Some Democrats think that the party’s messaging strategy hinges as much on the messengers as the medium it’s communicated on.

“If you know how to talk to people, it doesn’t matter what medium is going to exist,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, a freshman Democratic senator from Arizona. “You could be the best freaking spokesperson in the world, but if you don’t know how to talk to working-class people, it doesn’t matter if you have the best TikTok following, it’s just not going to translate.”

​ Orange County Register 

Constitutional convention? Why open that Pandora’s Box?

• March 21, 2025

Two of California’s last three governors have wanted to help organize and promote constitutional conventions, either on the state or federal level. They’ve both been dangerously wrong about this.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted only a state convention, aiming to take some of the clumsiness out of California’s governing documents, which changes as often as every two years if voters pass ballot initiatives.

But current Gov. Gavin Newsom is more ambitious, seeking the first national constitutional convention since 1787, even before George Washington was elected president.

Newsom thinks he can confine such a convention to one issue: gun control.

Ironically, these seemingly simple calls from a moderate Republican and a liberal Democrat put them both in the camp of the far-right Republicans of the Convention of States organization, which has been seeking a national constitutional revision meeting for years. So far, the COS effort has garnered support from more than half the 34 states needed to call a convention.

Like Newsom and Schwarzenegger, COS claims its convention could be confined to its narrow goals, which include imposition of severe spending restraints on Congress, along with term limits for senators and Congress members and a few other officials. (Presidents are already limited to two terms by the existing Constitution’s 22nd Amendment.)

And there’s the problem: Because there’s never been a second constitutional convention, no one knows if such a gathering’s activity can be confined to one or two subjects, or whether everything would become fair game. The First Amendment, guaranteeing free speech and freedom of religion, might disappear. So might the Second Amendment’s guarantees of gun rights. Or the 14^th Amendment guarantees of due process in all criminal proceedings. And on and on.

In short, a constitutional convention would be a Pandora’s Box and no one knows what institution might supervise or limit its scope. For just one example, since the Constitution sets up the Supreme Court as one of today’s major authorities, why would anyone believe that court’s justices might have jurisdiction over the doings of a constitutional revision convention that might potentially change or eliminate the court itself?

That’s why San Francisco’s ultra-leftist Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener wants the Legislature this year to revoke its approval of a resolution calling for a convention to deal with gun control. Wiener, who has been wrong about many things including reshaping California housing to make it far more dense than before, is right about this. There’s even the possibility that California’s call for a gun control confab could be added to the COS efforts for a convention dealing with vastly different issues. No one knows.

Said Wiener, “There is no way I want California to accidentally help these extremists trigger a constitutional convention where they (might) rewrite the Constitution to restrict voting rights, to eliminate reproductive health access and so forth.”

Wiener’s fears are becoming more common, as states like Illinois and New Jersey, which previously had open calls for a constitutional convention, have rescinded their prior actions. Any that are not rescinded remain valid indefinitely and could be used by COS or anyone else wanting to call a convention, whatever their motives.

No doubt a constitutional convention, whether at the state or federal level, would be a delight for people who like to tinker with or brainstorm about government structure. But it also could turn into a nightmare for those who treasure civil liberties and protection against the tyranny of the majority when it comes to things like taxation.

The fact is, no one even knows how delegates to such a convention might be chosen, or who would be eligible to serve. The current state and federal constitutions indicate only they must represent different areas and states in proportion to their population. Whether they would be elected or appointed by current officeholders is an open question. For sure, there are no guarantees of which groups would be represented and which might not.

The bottom line: It’s best not to confront questions like this at all, since the lack of existing rules could mean that decisions would be made by the loudest among us, rather than the wisest. So why open this Pandora’s box at all?

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump’s call to dismantle Education Department shows Republican rightward lurch and his grip on GOP

• March 21, 2025

By MORIAH BALINGIT, CHRIS MEGERIAN and BILL BARROW, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A little more than 23 years ago, Republican President George W. Bush sat at a desk at a high school in Hamilton, Ohio, and signed a law that would vastly expand the role of the Education Department and transform American schooling. On Thursday, his Republican successor, President Donald Trump, signed a very different document — this one an executive order designed to dismantle the department.

For years, as right-wing activists called for eliminating the agency, many Republicans paid lip service to the cause but still voted to fund it. Now Trump, emboldened and unapologetic in his drastic remaking of the federal government, has brushed aside concerns that deterred his predecessors.

Thursday’s announcement follows other aggressive decisions, including the enlistment of billionaire Elon Musk to downsize the federal bureaucracy at startling speed, or the review of scientific findings that are foundational for fighting climate change.

Dismantling the Education Department was always high on Trump’s list. He talked about it repeatedly during his campaign, often to cheers from his supporters, including the conservative group Moms for Liberty.

But despite telegraphing his goals, Trump’s executive order was a stunner, even for a president who thrives on audacity. Margaret Spellings, education secretary under Bush, said she was indeed surprised he was following through on his campaign vow.

For years, Spellings said, talk of about eliminating the department was a way for Republicans to signal their adherence to party orthodoxy, even as they voted to send billions of dollars to support its mission. Much of that money ended up at schools in their own districts, funding extra teachers for impoverished schools, for example. As recently as 2023, 60 House Republicans voted against a bill to close the department.

“It was always a little bit of a wink and a nod deal,” Spellings said. “Donald Trump has called the bluff.”

Trump, in remarks at the White House, said: “People have wanted to do this for many, many years, for many, many decades. And I don’t know, no president ever got around to doing it. But I’m getting around to doing it.”

He held the executive order up for photos while standing next to Education Secretary Linda McMahon. He’s joked that he’ll need to find another job for her once her department is gone.

The executive order is likely to get mired in legal challenges, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle said closing the department can’t move forward without their approval. But Trump, through the Department of Government Efficiency, has already shrunk the department’s imprint, moving to eliminate about half of its staff.

The first talk of eliminating the department came just a year after its formation from President Ronald Reagan, who opposed its efforts to integrate schools. However, calls to get rid of the new department fell out of favor by the end of Reagan’s first term. By the time George W. Bush became president, it was seen as a vehicle to implement his policy vision of a federal government that required states to closely monitor student progress, and hold schools accountable that fell short.

Calls to eliminate the department reemerged with the Tea Party, whose adherents made it a symbol of bloated bureaucracy that usurped power that belonged to local governments.

The most recent push to close the department emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, when right-leaning parents, infuriated by what they saw as unnecessary school closures, began arguing that the government was indoctrinating their children.

Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, was in the White House audience and was recognized by Trump in his remarks. She said the department allowed teacher unions to exert undue influence over schools, a problem that became more apparent while schools were closed and students were learning over Zoom.

“The American people woke up and recognized the fact there were a lot of people that were making decisions that were not in the best interest of their children,” she said.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who as a young lawmaker voted for the 1979 bill to create the department, praised Trump’s move and argued the agency has not accomplished its original mission.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Gingrich said of backing Democratic President Jimmy Carter, his fellow Georgian, in a 215-201 vote.

Two generations later, Gingrich argued, “If you take what the scores were then and how much we were spending on education then and compare it now, it’s impossible to escape the reality that it’s been an abject failure.”

For all the talk of overreach, federal law explicitly bars the federal government from telling schools what to teach their students. Day-to-day operations of schools are largely handled by state and local authorities.

And while Trump has talked about eliminating the department, he envisions a more muscular role for the federal government in schools, moving swiftly and aggressively to punish schools that do not fall in line with the administration’s interpretation of civil rights laws.

Early in his administration, he has already taken unprecedented action to sever federal grants from the University of Pennsylvania and from Columbia University over its handling of pro-Palestinian protests.

The executive order to close the department also included language to take federal funding away from schools that promote “diversity, equity and inclusion,” a term that has come to encompass everything from highlighting the achievements of Black Americans to allowing transgender athletes to compete.

Advocates and Democratic strategists have warned that Trump’s efforts could backfire with voters. According to recent polling, six out of ten registered voters oppose the closure of the department.

Democratic pollster John Anzalone, who has worked for multiple presidential campaigns, including Joe Biden’s 2020 victorious effort over Trump, said the president’s moves are a base pleaser likely to backfire for Republicans with the broader electorate.

First and foremost, he said, “education is generally popular with voters” as a priority. Anything that allows Democrats to position themselves as better reflective of those values, he said, works against Trump.

The states whose schools are most reliant on federal dollars include Mississippi, South Dakota, Montana, Alaska, Arkansas and North Carolina — all of which backed Trump. Any disruption in federal funding will hit them hardest.

Spellings said there’s long been a bipartisan consensus that “education is the route to the American dream, and it ought to be afforded to everyone, and the federal role was to level the playing field.”

“If that’s still true, we’re in the process of finding out.”

Sharon Lurye and Linley Sanders contributed.

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

​ Orange County Register