Katelynn Mathews leads Fullerton softball past No. 4 Mater Dei for big ‘program’ win

• March 22, 2025

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FOUNTAIN VALLEY — If there’s an early theme to the Orange County softball season, it might be parity.

Lower ranked teams have defeated lofty rivals in the O.C. Top 25 to prompt excitement that wide-spread competitiveness exists.

Fullerton fueled the concept Friday by defeating No. 4 Mater Dei 4-0 behind a breakout performance by pitcher Katelynn Mathews at Fountain Valley Sports Park.

Mathews, a sophomore, allowed three hits and struck out eight in six shutout innings to lead the No. 11 Indians (8-4) to their biggest win of the young season.

“Very big win for our program,” fourth-year Fullerton coach Trevor Holton said. “We have come a long way in three years. The kids are really buying in and laying the foundation.”

Fullerton reemerged on the county softball landscape in 2023 with the arrival of touted freshman Malaya Majam-Finch. She led the Indians to a CIF SoCal Regional Division III title that season and has since committed to four-time defending NCAA champion Oklahoma.

But in another nod to parity, it was Mathews who dominated Mater Dei (7-6-1), which earlier this month reached the semifinals of the Dave Kops Tournament of Champions in Bullhead City, Ariz.

The Monarchs’ hits off Mathews came on an infield single, bunt single and a flare that narrowly escaped second baseman Analise Barrios. The Trinity League squad went 0 for 6 against Mathews with runners in scoring position.

“She spun it really well,” Mater Dei coach Nicole Thomas said of Mathews. “She hit both in and out, and up. As much as we had a plan, her stuff was good. … Our players are strong. It’s hard to get our hitters off balance.”

Mathews said she leaned on her curveball, riseball, screwball and backdoor curve in her battery with catcher Abby Lee.

“I did well hitting my spots,” said Mathews, who was replaced by Majam-Finch for the seventh inning. “And when I was ahead of the count, (I) shut the batters down. … I’ve improved hitting my spots a lot.”

Holton held Mathews in high regard as a freshman but believes she has raised her level.

“She is all business,” he said. “Never gets too up, never gets too down. (She) buckles down even more in pressure situations.”

“(She’s) not an unknown any more,” the coach added.

Fullerton supported Mathews by scoring four runs — two unearned — off Penn commit Sienna Acosta.

No. 9 batter Kaylyn Yi, a freshman center fielder, laced an opposite-field double to left with one out in the third inning and scored on a groundout by Andrea Montes De Oca.

In the fourth inning, Yi drove in two runs with a two-out double to right.

Yi and leadoff batter Hayley Brock (Utah Valley) each went 2 for 3 for Fullerton.

Barrios capped the scoring with a two-out RBI single in the fifth.

“We want to win the (Empire) League and advance as far as we can in the playoffs,” Holton said. “We’re going to keep grinding.”

Mater Dei dropped its second straight game but had Thomas back on the field after she served a one-game suspension for her ejection in the third-place game in Bullhead City.

Speedy No. 9 batter Mikayla Macisaac had two of the Monarchs’ three hits.

“Once the girls gain confidence back and play the way we’ve all seen, we’ll be good,” said Thomas, whose team begins the Dugard Classic on Saturday. “(The Trinity) is going to be a really tough league.”

​ Orange County Register 

Top-seeded UCLA women crush Southern in NCAA Tournament opener

• March 22, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The UCLA women’s basketball team kicked off its quest for the program’s first Final Four appearance by routing Southern, 84-46, in an NCAA Tournament first-round game on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion.

Lauren Betts had 14 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots, and Londynn Jones scored 11 points for the Bruins (31-2), who are the tournament’s top overall seed. Janiah Barker provided a spark off the bench with 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks, while Kiki Rice finished with 10 points and seven assists and Gabriela Jaquez added 10 points.

“We talked about our team not being a team that plays not to lose, but go to win and take possessions,” head coach Cori Close said after the game. “And I think when we’re physical, we’re anticipatory, when we’re talking early, when we’re taking things away – that’s when we’re at our best.”

The Bruins will face eighth-seeded Richmond (28-6) on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen. The Spiders routed Georgia Tech, 74-49, for their program’s first NCAA Tournament victory behind 30 points and 15 rebounds from Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Maggie Doogan.

The 6-foot-4 Barker was an important part of a 9-0 UCLA run to begin the second half, and she embraced the moment, blowing a kiss to the crowd as the Bruins took control.

“Sometimes (the crowd) just be heckling, so I blew them a kiss,” Barker told reporters. “My confidence is at an all-time high always, so I think I was just happy in that moment. It’s fun to be fun when you’re out there on the court. When we’re having a fun time, we play the best.”

Barker blocked a shot almost immediately after coming off the bench, kicking off a sequence that ended in a Jaquez layup. Thirty seconds later, Barker grabbed an offensive rebound and bumped a defender off her before passing to Rice, who was waiting on the perimeter.

Rice sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key to extend what had been a 12-point halftime lead to 47-26.

The 5-foot-11 point guard had zero turnovers against a Jaguars team that has used its physicality to force 19.91 turnovers per game this season.

“We did a lot of prep this week on handling pressure,” Rice said. “That’s something that teams have done to me in the past is pressure me and get the ball out of my hands, and I’ve just got to be able to take care of the ball and find my teammates. That’s my job.”

Aniya Gourdine had 10 points to lead 16th-seeded Southern (21-15), which beat UC San Diego in the First Four on Wednesday for the program’s first NCAA Tournament win.

“A lot of people underestimate HBCU’s,” Gourdine said. “They don’t really believe that we belong here. It’s huge to put us in the bracket for all those girls who might want to go to an HBCU.”

Back on the same court 48 hours later, the SWAC regular-season and tournament champions had trouble penetrating UCLA’s perimeter defense from the outset.

UCLA held Southern to 11 points in the first quarter and opened a 12-point lead. Rice kept feeding her teammates throughout the first half, and the Bruins shot 5 for 9 from 3-point range before halftime.

The Jaguars regrouped and played the Bruins even in the second quarter, going on a 6-0 scoring run late in the second quarter after a series of calls went in their favor. Taniya Lawson pulled up for a jumper that cut UCLA’s lead to 36-24 in the final minute, then Betts and Southern’s Sky Castro traded layups to keep it a 12-point margin at the intermission.

The Bruins leveraged the early momentum of the third quarter and outscored the Jaguars 21-7 in the period for a 59-33 lead, and the big cushion allowed Coach Cori Close to monitor her starters’ minutes the rest of the night. UCLA outrebounded Southern 44-23, and eight Bruins finished with at least nine points.

“I love how we responded in the third quarter defensively,” Close said. “I think that’s really where we’ve got to have urgency all the time. No matter what the game plan is, be counted on to do your job. I thought in the second quarter we lost track of that a little bit, but I was proud of how they responded.”

UCLA is in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season and the ninth time in 13 tournaments under Close, but the Bruins have made just one regional final in those first eight appearances. They spent 13 weeks atop the AP Top 25 this season and won the Big Ten Tournament last week by knocking off rival and fellow No. 1 seed USC in the title game.

​ Orange County Register 

George Foreman, 2-time heavyweight champion, dies at 76

• March 22, 2025

George Foreman, the fearsome heavyweight who lost the “Rumble in the Jungle” to Muhammad Ali before his inspiring second act as a 45-year-old champion and a successful businessman, died Friday night. He was 76.

Foreman’s family announced his death on social media.

“A devout preacher, a devoted husband, a loving father, and a proud grand- and great-grandfather, he lived a life marked by unwavering faith, humility and purpose,” his family wrote. “A humanitarian, an Olympian and two-time heavyweight champion of the world, he was deeply respected. A force for good, a man of discipline, conviction, and a protector of his legacy, fighting tirelessly to preserve his good name — for his family.”

A native Texan, Foreman began his boxing career as an Olympic gold medalist who inspired fear as he climbed to the peak of the heavyweight division by stopping Joe Frazier in 1973. His formidable aura evaporated only a year later when Ali pulled off one of the most audacious victories in boxing history in Zaire, baiting and taunting Foreman into losing his belt in one of the greatest fights ever staged.

Foreman left the sport a few years later, but returned after a 10-year absence and a self-described religious awakening.

He then pulled off one of the most spectacular knockouts in boxing history in 1994, flooring Michael Moorer – 19 years his junior – to claim Moorer’s two heavyweight belts. Down on the scorecards, Foreman landed a two-punch combination that laid Moorer down for the count. At age 45 and 299 days, Foreman was the unified heavyweight champion of the world, the oldest man in history to hold boxing’s greatest prize (and also the oldest champion ever, a record that stood for 20 years).

“It happened,” Jim Lampley called on the HBO broadcast. “It happened!”

Foreman’s transformation into an inspirational figure was complete, and he fought only four more times before moving onto his next career as a genial businessman, pitchman and occasional actor.

Foreman had a successful career alongside Lampley as an HBO boxing analyst, but his greatest success following his in-ring career was yet to come.

He was best known as the face of the George Foreman Grill, a simple cooking machine which sold more than 100 million units and made him much wealthier than his sport ever did.

In 1999, he sold the commercial rights to the George Foreman Grill for $138 million.

“George was a great friend to not only myself, but to my entire family,” Top Rank president Bob Arum said. “We’ve lost a family member and are absolutely devastated.”

In the first chapter of his boxing career, Foreman was nothing like the smiling grandfather who hawked his grills on television to great success.

Foreman dabbled in petty crime while growing up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, but changed his life through boxing as a teenager. He made the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 and won gold in Mexico City, stopping a 29-year-old opponent in a star-making performance.

Foreman rose to the pinnacle of the pro game over the next five years, but was perceived as an aloof, unfriendly athlete, both through his demeanor and through the skewed racial lenses of the time. He stopped Frazier in an upset in Jamaica in January 1973 to win the belt, with his knockout inspiring Howard Cosell’s iconic call: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

Foreman defended his belt against Ken Norton before accepting the fight with Ali in the now-immortal bout staged in Africa by promoter Don King. Ali put on a tactical masterclass against Foreman, showing off the “rope-a-dope” strategy that frustrated and infuriated the champion. Foreman was eventually knocked down for the first time in his career, and the fight was stopped in the eighth round.

Exhausted and disillusioned, Foreman stopped fighting in 1977 and largely spent the next decade as a preacher after his religious awakening. He returned to boxing in 1987 in his late 30s, and he racked up a lengthy series of victories before losing to Evander Holyfield in a title fight in 1991.

Three years later, Foreman got in the ring with Moorer in Las Vegas. Moorer appeared to win the first nine rounds rather comfortably, with Foreman unable to land his slower punches. But Foreman came alive in the 10th, hurting Moorer before slipping in the short right hand that sent Moorer to the canvas in spectacular fashion.

Foreman quit the ring for good in 1997, although he occasionally discussed a comeback. He settled into a life as a boxing analyst for HBO and as a pitchman for the grills that grew his fame and fortune. A biographical movie based on his life was released in 2023.

Foreman had 12 children, including five sons who are all famously named George Edward Foreman.

“Legendary boxing champion, life-changing preacher, husband, father, grand- and great-grandfather and the best friend you could have,” WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman wrote on social media. “His memory is now eternal, may Big George rest in peace.”

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Here’s how to enter the Big Bear bald eagle chick naming contest

• March 22, 2025

Have an idea about what to call the two eaglets that hatched in the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake in recent weeks?

Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that operates two web cams that livestream the nest to the world, announced Friday the naming contest for the chicks is open.

Suggestions are due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 28.

The nonprofit maintains the free livestream without advertisements, so it asks for a small donation to enter the chick-naming contest. More contest details are online at friendsofbigbearvalley.org.

After the deadline for entries, a computer will randomly draw a list of finalists that will then be voted on by Big Bear Valley school children. The chicks’ names will be announced April 1.

The nonprofit is accepting names for the two chicks who remain in the nest. Though all three eggs in the clutch hatched, the oldest eaglet died in a recent snowstorm.

“We will be naming that chick ‘Misty,’ in honor of a very dedicated FOBBV volunteer, Kathi Misterly, who was lost to cancer and is still very missed,” the nonprofit announced.

It has been three years since Jackie’s offspring Spirit hatched and soared away.

​ Orange County Register 

Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix gives drivers chance to capitalize on strong starts

• March 22, 2025

THERMAL — Kyle Kirkwood is looking for ways to improve at the Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix and his team used Friday’s practice session at the new road course to move in that direction.

The driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda finished in fifth place in the NTT IndyCar Series season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida. A top-five finish in any IndyCar Series race is impressive, but it didn’t make Kirkwood smile.

“I wouldn’t say I’m happy. I would say I’m satisfied,” Kirkwood said.

Sunday’s inaugural IndyCar Series race at Thermal Club presents an opportunity for Kirkwood to finish better than fifth. But it also presents a set of unfamiliar conditions that will make it difficult to finish the race, let alone win it. Kirkwood said his team is close to taking a checkered flag, and he won’t be happy until it happens.

“It’s close, but it’s just not there. I’m not extremely happy. I should be happy. Top five is really good in IndyCar. Satisfied with the result. Happy? Not really.”

Qualifying for the race is Saturday at 2 p.m. and will be televised on FS1. The race is Sunday at noon and will be televised on FOX (Ch. 11).

Kirkwood’s teammate at Andretti Global, 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, was right behind Kirkwood at St. Petersburg, finishing sixth.

“Of course, you always want to win. I finished sixth. It’s not the perfect result,” said Ericsson, driver of the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda.

Unlike Kirkwood, Ericsson was pleased with his result. More importantly, he said it was a good momentum builder and confidence booster.

“I felt like I did exactly that,” Ericsson said. “I feel like we had a really solid weekend.”

NEW TRACK TESTS ENGINES

The Thermal Club race is new to the IndyCar Series and the drivers are excited for a new way to test their skills.

However, Ericsson said he likes going to the more traditional tracks with long histories.

“That’s always nice, but also I love a new challenge,” Ericsson said. “It’s a new track, but it’s also a very fun layout, really challenging corners. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Additionally, the IndyCar Series is using a new hybrid engine, which is heavier than the internal combustion engines used by the teams in races last year. The added weight reduces speed, but the new engines are more powerful and forces the drivers to adjust, especially on a technical track like the one at Thermal Club.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Kirkwood said. “I don’t really think it’s doing a whole, whole lot. This track is very hard on tires. It’s a common trait on West Coast tracks. It’s something we have to predict and plan for. We adjust accordingly.”

Kirkwood said the tire wear, heat and track temperatures will be more of a factor for reduced speeds in the cars than the new engines.

“It’s all new. Preparation’s pretty key,” he said.

Not all of the drivers are fans of the new hybrid engines. Andretti Global driver Colton Herta had few flattering words for them.

“It’s much heavier. It’s fine,” said Herta, driver of the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda.

The turns and corners at the track will have more to do with reduced speeds than the new engines, he said.

“It is a track that has a little bit of everything as far as the cornerwise, so the set up is a little bit more open than a lot of the street courses or the road courses that we might race on because you have to cater to a lot more of a different kind of set of corners,” said Herta, who’s from Valencia.

He finished fourth in the Thermal $1 Million Challenge exhibition race last year and has tested on the course over the winter. His team has plenty of data on the track, and he said he is familiar with the layout. It will test the new hybrid engines.

“This track will have a pretty high energy limit so we’ll be able to use it quite a bit,” Herta said. “It will make a more of a difference than at most of the other tracks that we go to. It really adds another kind of level to our driving. It makes it a little more interesting for us inside the cockpit. Outside the cockpit, it really doesn’t change much. The sound is similar. Speed-wise it’s similar. You really don’t see a difference.”

PALOU LEADS PRACTICE SESSION

Alex Palou, driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and the reigning IndyCar Series champion, posted the fastest lap in practice Friday at 1:40.5486.

The three Andretti Global drivers posted the next three fastest times.

Kirkwood was second at 1:40.6387. Ericsson was third at 1:40.7370. Herta was fourth at 1:40.8439.

“This is a place where we tested and we wanted to start off on the right foot,” Herta said. “If we’re not quick right away after a place you’ve tested at, it’s a little disappointing. You scratch your heads a little bit. To start off that way, it’s a little bit expected because we tested here. It feels good.”

Christian Rasmussen, driver of the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, had the fifth-fastest time at 1:40.8728.

The first practice session was stopped when Robert Schwartzman’s car caught fire on the track. Schwartzman is a rookie driver for Prema Racing.

​ Orange County Register 

Rookies thrive in first round at Hoag Classic, with Els and Couples lurking

• March 22, 2025

NEWPORT BEACH — Welcome to “March Madness” on the PGA Tour Champions.

Like the NCAA Tournament in college basketball, the first round of the 2025 Hoag Classic at Newport Beach Country Club on Friday fittingly featured some “madness” of its own.

Though there are eight World Golf Hall of Famers in the field, including two-time Hoag champions Fred Couples and Ernie Els, plus defending champion Padraig Harrington – the top golf seeds, so to speak – it was a pair of 50-year-old “rookies” on PGA Tour Champions who finished at the top of the leaderboard on a sun-kissed afternoon in Newport Beach.

In his second Champions event since turning 50 on March 3, Australian Brendan Jones shot a 7-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over fellow rookie Freddie Jacobson of Sweden (6-under 65) and tour veteran Michael Allen (65), with Hall of Famers Els (5-under 66) and Couples (4-under 67) lurking within three shots.

Jones and Jacobson both earned their playing status on the 50-and-over Champions Tour by finishing in the top five at PGA Tour Champions Qualifying School in Scottsdale, Arizona, in November. That makes them the Cinderella stories in the tournament, so far.

It remains to be seen whether the rookies can maintain their positions or whether they falter, like No. 15 NCAA seed Robert Morris, which put a scare into No. 2 seed Alabama on Friday before falling in the NCAA Tournament. But upsets happen in golf, too, just as No. 12 seeds McNeese State and Colorado State have demonstrated in the real March Madness this weekend.

Starting on the back nine because of his lack of status, Jones made five birdies on his first six holes Friday to rocket into the lead. Even he couldn’t believe it.

“Five under through six . . . my head was buzzing at that stage,” said Jones, who finished 60th in his only other Champions start two weeks ago in Tucson. “I couldn’t in my wildest dreams have imagined getting off to that start that I did, but I felt calm and I felt that I could have gone on with it, too.”

It wasn’t until later that Jones thought about how low he actually could have gone.

“I never got too far ahead,” he said. “Late in the round, I thought, ‘Wow, 5-under through 6, I could have shot in the 50s today.’ But I wasn’t thinking that; I was thinking, OK, next shot, hit the best shot I can. That comes with experience. Even though I’m a bit of a novice and a baby face out here (on the Champions tour), I’ve had 25 years of experience around the world (including 15 wins on the Japan Golf Tour). So it’s not unusual, but it’s unusual being on top of the leaderboard with the names that are right behind me.”

That would be names like Els, Couples and Harrington.

Couples, a two-time Hoag champion who lives in nearby Corona del Mar and is an honorary club member at Newport Beach Country Club, got off to a fast start – 4-under through six holes, including an eagle on the par-5 third hole. But he struggled with his putter, missing one short birdie putt and leaving two putts on the lip, including his birdie attempt on No. 18.

“I missed a couple of real makeable ones, one a 3-footer,” said Couples, who said he has been battling a bad head coach for several days. “But to say I don’t feel well just means putting was the hardest thing. … I putted OK; I just didn’t hit them hard enough.”

Like Jones, Jacobson said his spot near the top of the leaderboard after his bogey-free round of 65 was unexpected because he returned to his home in Sweden for a month after playing in his first two Champions events in February.

“I’m a little bit surprised,” Jacobson said. “I’m not getting much good practice in, so it’s been a little uneven. So, I’m not going to get carried away with this one (round).”

After all, it’s only one round in a 54-hole tournament, so it’s not even halftime. March Madness continues on Saturday.

NOTES

In the inaugural Newport Beach Celebrity Classic played on Sunday, March 16, the team of pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler and Aaron Dexheimer won the two-man best-ball event with 9-under 62 in the gross division. NHL Hall of Famer and former Ducks star Teemu Selanne and partner Steve Johnson tied for second at 6-under. NFL MVP Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, a Dana Point resident, and partner Matt Barkley, former USC and NFL quarterback, tied for fifth. The event raised $200,000 for fire relief, benefiting Steadfast LA and its campaign to rebuild after the recent wildfires in LA, as well as the Newport Beach Fire Department Foundation. . . Former USC and NFL quarterback Matt Sanchez, whose father was a career fire captain at nearby Irvine Station 6, also participated in the event, calling the fire relief campaign “a cause close to my heart. Helping people get back on their feet after the fires, I’m all in.” . . . On Friday, local PGA club pro Steve Holmes, an instructor at Moorpark’s Rustic Canyon Golf Course in Ventura County, a sponsor’s exemption, shot a 3-under 68 and is tied for 15th . . . Champions veteran Paul Goydos of Coto de Caza shot an even-par 71, tied for 49th.

​ Orange County Register 

Proposed gutting of Department of Education worries Southern California educators, activists

• March 22, 2025

President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education was met with uncertainty Friday at some Southern California school districts, where educators and activists worry any federal funding cuts could impact already cash-strapped budgets and threaten programs for disadvantaged students.

Among the most vocal critics of the president’s plan was Alberto M. Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“Any significant change at the appropriation level, undermining current funding levels, could prove to be catastrophic in terms of the quality of education kids get,” Carvalho said in a videotaped statement. “It could mean an end to after-school programs, an end to tutorial programs. It could be the loss of a teacher’s aide in a special needs classroom. It could be the end of supper or a snack for after-school programs benefiting kids. That’s what’s at stake.”

The LAUSD, the second-largest school district in the nation with 429,000 students, receives about $1.2 billion in federal funds annually. The largest portion, totaling about $470 million, is earmarked for Title I programs benefiting the “poorest of the poor” in areas where where 85% of the population lives at or below the poverty level, Carvalho said.

About $170 million in federal funds is used by the LAUSD each year for students with disabilities, including those on the autistic spectrum, those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders and others requiring special assistance.

“Poverty has grown across the country,” Carvalho said. “Homelessness impacting the youth has grown across the country. These federal programs provide stability, support and accelerated learning for thousands of kids in our district, millions of kids across America.”

Carvalho said he is concerned policy shifts from Trump’s executive order will undermine the personal and civil rights of children of color, immigrant students and the LGBTQ community. “There’s so much at stake right now,” he said.

Carvalho also took issue with the argument that it’s better to earmark federal funds for education directly to states through block grants and empower states with local decisions.

“I have news for you, that’s already the reality,” he said. “States receive no more than 4-7% of their budget from the federal government, and the federal government does not determine the adoption of textbooks, the curriculum, the standards or assessments. Those are determined by states and then affirmed by locally elected school boards, so the power and the control over the funding and the decisions regarding curriculum are already at the local level.

“This begs the question, why and why now? And what is the impact long term, directly affecting our kids.”

Trump contends the Department of Education has not improved student outcomes since it was created by Congress in 1979 at the urging of President Jimmy Carter. In 2024, only 39% of the nation’s fourth-graders and 28% of eighth-graders were proficient in math, and only 30% of fourth-graders and 29% of eighth-graders were proficient in reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Conservative activists have long supported elimination of the Department of Education, which Trump has assailed as wasteful and responsible for spreading “woke” ideas such as programs to support diversity, equity and inclusion and protections for transgender students.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon explained this week that mandated functions of the department will be transferred to other federal agencies and the states.

“Closing the department does not mean cutting off funds from those who depend on them — we will continue to support K-12 students, students with special needs, college student borrowers and others who rely on essential programs,” McMahon said in a statement after Trump signed the order. “We’re going to follow the law and eliminate the bureaucracy responsibly by working through Congress to ensure a lawful and orderly transition.”

It’s uncertain how the states will distribute federal money the department provides to educate students who are poor, disabled or still learning English and need extra support. School systems with weak property tax bases, including those in rural areas, depend on federal funding for teachers salaries, buses and classroom technology.

Elimination of the Department of Education would require congressional approval.

Trump’s executive order prompted the Public School Defenders Hub, a coalition of more than 35 statewide organizations, to demand Friday that Orange County Department of Education Superintendent Stefan Bean release details of an action plan.

The OCDE serves some of Orange County’s most vulnerable student populations and provides support and mandated fiscal oversight to 28 school districts serving more than 600 schools and approximately 450​,000 students.

“Eliminating the Department of Education will have disastrous consequences for millions of families,” said Andy Thorburn, president of the Public School Defenders Hub. “Gutting the Department will impact programs for students with disabilities, lead to larger class sizes, and severely reduce local school budgets. Many qualified students will find higher education out of reach due to the lack of federal loans and grants.”

The OCDE said it is monitoring the impact of the executive order, Bean said in a written response to demands from Public School Defenders Hub.

“While the majority of school funding in California comes from the state, I agree that federal dollars remain essential to supporting our most vulnerable student populations,” Bean said in an email to Public School Defenders Hub obtained by the Southern California News Group.  “At this time, we have no indication of changes or disruptions to federal funding for programs supporting students with disabilities or those from low-income families, though funding could be distributed through other federal agencies.”

The Capistrano Unified School District, which serves more than 48,000 students and is the largest district in Orange County, receives about about $27.5 million annually in federal funding. Most of the money is used for student special education and low- income programs and about $6.5 million is used for food and nutrition programs.

If CUSD is forced to make budget reductions due to the elimination of the Department of Education, it will focus on areas that have the least direct impact on students and classrooms, said Ryan K. Burris, a spokesperson the district.

“In the meantime, we continue to advocate for all CUSD students as we work directly with our local, state and federal leaders,” Burris said.

The Irvine Unified School District, which serves more than 35,000 students, also is taking a wait-and-see attitude to the proposed changes, said district spokesperson Annie Brown.

Elsewhere, Trump’s executive order did not seem to be a cause of concern in the Corona-Norco Unified School District, which enrolls more than 50,000 students in Riverside County, said Evita Tapia-Gonzalez, the district’s spokesperson.

“The district remains fiscally stable and fully capable of sustaining current programs and services,” Tapia-Gonzalez said. “Should additional changes occur at the federal or state level, the district remains committed to its long-standing practice of financial prudence while ensuring that students continue to receive a high-quality, world-class education.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

LeBron James, Rui Hachimura might return for Lakers’ game vs. Bulls

• March 22, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Starting forwards LeBron James and Rui Hachimura could return for the Lakers’ home game against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.

James and Hachimura were upgraded to questionable on the team’s Friday evening injury report after missing the last several games.

The 40-year-old James missed the previous seven games because of a strained left groin injury he suffered late in the March 8 road loss to the Boston Celtics.

The four-time league MVP averaged 25 points (while shooting 51.7% from the field, 38.4% from 3-point range), 8.5 assists and 8.2 rebounds while playing 58 of 62 games before missing time with the groin ailment. James and Denver Nuggets reigning MVP Nikola Jokic are the only players in the NBA averaging at least 25 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Hachimura missed 10 consecutive games of left patellar tendinopathy. He hasn’t played since the Feb. 27 home win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Hachimura is averaging 13.3 points (while shooting 50.6% from the field, 41% from 3-point range) and 5.2 rebounds in 50 games (all starts).

The Lakers went 7-5 without Hachimura and 3-4 without James. That included a 3-3 stretch of six games in eight days that concluded with Thursday’s blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks – a game Luka Doncic (sprained right ankle), Austin Reaves (sprained right ankle), Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle injury management) and Jarred Vanderbilt (strained right groin) also were unavailable for.

Doncic, Reaves, Finney-Smith and Vanderbilt were listed as probable for Saturday’s game, which is the final game of a five-game homestand before a four-game trip.

BULLS AT LAKERS

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM

​ Orange County Register