Matt Kanne named basketball coach at Servite

• February 24, 2025

Matt Kanne is the new basketball coach at Servite, the school announced today.

Kanne has run the Open Gym Premier youth basketball organization for the past 17 years. He played basketball at Servite, and graduated from the school in 2007. Kanne also played basketball at Chapman University.

He replaces Tony Davis who was not retained as coach after the 2024-25 season. This season Servite was 14-14 overall, 0-10 in the Trinity League and missed the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Servite athletic director Matt Marrujo said in a statement: “I am excited to welcome Matt Kanne as the next Servite Basketball coach. He is an experienced leader who has a proven track record of success. He has a deep commitment to Servite’s values and his vision for Servite basketball aligns perfectly with our mission of forming faith-filled leaders both on and off the court.”

​ Orange County Register 

Weary Ducks face Buffalo after back-to-back overtimes on the road

• February 24, 2025

The Ducks flew into Buffalo to face the Sabres on Tuesday, and boy were their wings tired.

That match will be their third in four days, with both weekend games reaching overtime to boot.

They had their two-goal lead wiped away in Boston Saturday, but Greg Cronin moved to 2-0-0 (both overtime wins) in his hometown as a head coach when Leo Carlsson salvaged both points with a putback goal in OT. Sunday, they erased not one but two three-goal leads in Detroit, where they forced an extra frame with a pair of six-on-five tallies before ceding the game-winner to familiar foe Patrick Kane.

By gaining three of a possible four points, the Ducks moved within six clicks of the final Western Conference playoff spot, currently held by the Vancouver Canucks. The ‘Nucks have lost two straight since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Winger Frank Vatrano told reporters in Boston that the Ducks were not staring too far into the horizon.

“We’re a really close group and all get along,” said Vatrano, who had a goal Saturday and an assist Sunday. “At the end of the day, everybody wants to play in the playoffs, right? So, for us, we’re not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re trying to take it game by game and try to grow every single day in practice and in games.”

Vatrano described Carlsson as an already-elite player and said his “ceiling is so high.” Carlsson has four points in his last three games, a welcome sign for the Ducks, while Jackson LaCombe has three assists in his past two outings.

Trevor Zegras had three points in four games heading into the matchup with Detroit, but could find himself watching Tuesday’s game from the pressbox. His high hit Sunday on Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen earned him a disciplinary hearing –– the less severe kind conducted by phone –– on Monday (no hearing was scheduled for Detroit’s Ben Chiarot for his retaliatory high cross-check on Vatrano). No penalty was called on Zegras, however Rasmussen exited the game in distress and did not return.

That was also the case for veteran Ducks goalie John Gibson a day earlier, when after sterling saves on Morgan Geekie and Brad Marchand helped stake the Ducks to a 2-1 lead, he withdrew from the contest. Gibson remained day-to-day on Monday, meaning Lukáš Dostál seemed like a lock to start in Buffalo.

Gibson’s injury seemed unlikely to interfere with any plans he and the Ducks may have had for the March 7 trade deadline. Vatrano called the goalie tandem the Ducks’ “backbone.”

The Ducks are now 8 for their past 84 on the power play, made all the more glaring by their only slightly better penalty kill. In that same timeframe (since Dec. 1), the Ducks rank 26th of 32 clubs on the PK. They were touched up for three power-play goals in Detroit and nearly gave up a shorthanded goal as well.

Special teams will need to sharpen up in Buffalo, as the Sabres have won five of their past six games and scored 30 goals in the process, leaving little margin for error. Tage Thompson, the son of Ducks assistant coach Brent Thompson, has led the way with 11 points in five games.

Alex Tuch, who has been one of several Sabres to be the subject of trade rumors, and Jason Zucker will be game-time decisions due to injury. Tuch and Zucker have performed well against the Ducks, with Zucker having scored more goals against just one other franchise (Nashville) and Tuch having done so against two others (San Jose and the Kings).

​ Orange County Register 

WATCH: Idaho town hall meeting turns chaotic after woman is forcibly removed for shouting at speakers

• February 24, 2025

By REBECCA BOONE and MARTHA BELLISLE

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Republican-hosted legislative town hall meeting in northern Idaho descended into chaos after three plainclothes security workers forcibly removed a woman who was heckling the speakers.

The incident Saturday at Coeur d’Alene High School, first reported by the Coeur d’Alene Press, drew widespread attention after videos of the turbulence were posted online. Now more than $120,000 has been raised for Teresa Borrenpohl’s legal costs, and the police chief has asked to have the security firm’s business license revoked.

The city attorney’s office also dismissed a misdemeanor battery citation against Borrenpohl “in the interest of justice,” Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said Monday, and detectives are reviewing video to determine whether the security officers violated any laws.

Roughly 450 people attended the legislative town hall hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, said the organization’s chairman Brent Regan. All of them were told that security officers were present, and that “anyone who refused to respect the rights of others would be removed from the event.”

Still, videos show cheers and jeers were erupting throughout the crowd at times — including when one lawmaker mentioned legislation that he said protected doctors from “being forced to do abortions.”

“Women are dying,” one person in the audience shouted. “And doctors are leaving our state!” another yelled. A moderator tried to quiet the crowd, scolding people for “popping off with stupid remarks.”

That’s when Borrenpohl, a Democratic legislative candidate who has run unsuccessfully in the deeply Republican region, began to shout as well.

“Is this a town hall, or a lecture?” she asked, others in the audience echoing the question.

By that point, Borrenpohl had been warned at least three times to stop interrupting the speakers, said Regan.

“We’re trying to respect the rights of the 450 people that were there to listen. One person can’t stand up to bring a halt to the whole event,” Regan said.

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris, who was in plain clothes but wearing his badge on his belt, approached Borrenpohl. He introduced himself and told her to leave or she would be escorted out. Then the sheriff stepped back and began recording on his cellphone as three unidentified men approached and began grabbing Borrenpohl.

Tonya Coppedge, who was sitting behind Borrenpohl and shot video of the disruption on her cellphone, said the men refused her repeated requests to identify themselves. One of the men bent Borrenpohl’s wrist into a flexed position, and later Borrenpohl bit one of the men on the hand as he continued to grab her, Coppedge said.

“They were not very kind to her — it was pretty violent and traumatic,” Coppedge said.

Alicia Abbott, a friend of Borrenpohl’s who organized a GoFundMe on her behalf, said Borrenpohl has bruises from the incident. She suggested Borrenpohl was wrongly detained.

“Who were these people to detain Teresa in the first place?” Abbott asked. “This is not the first time we’ve seen this kind of security presence in public meetings or town halls. If they’re going to be detaining people, do they even have knowledge of the law? Are they trained to safely remove people?”

The men worked for the private security company LEAR Asset Management, based in Hayden, Idaho. Messages left for CEO Paul Trouette were not immediately returned. The men appeared to have violated Coeur d’Alene City ordinances, which require security personnel to wear uniforms with the word “Security” clearly marked “in letters no less than 1-inch tall on the front of the uniform.”

White, the police chief, told The Associated Press, said he had requested the revocation of company’s business licenses and the security agent licenses from the individuals who were involved.

Organizers arranged for extra security at the event after one of the lawmakers told them he had been facing death threats, Regan said. Rep. Jordan Redman, a Republican, had recently been threatened with bombings by an individual on social media, and so KCRCC notified the sheriff and arranged for security, Regan said. The Coeur d’Alene Police Department also had officers stationed in the parking lot outside.

On Monday, Kootenai County Undersheriff Brett Nelson released a statement saying the agency will have a “complete and independent investigation of the incident conducted by an outside agency.”

Bellisle reported from Seattle.

​ Orange County Register 

Wind advisory affecting 5 Freeway corridor near Santa Clarita and Western Antelope Valley Foothills until Tuesday midday

• February 24, 2025

5 Freeway corridor near Santa Clarita and Western Antelope Valley Foothills were placed under a wind advisory by the National Weather Service on Monday at 2:03 p.m. The advisory is valid from 7 p.m. until Tuesday noon.

The NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard CA said, “Northwest winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 45 mph expected.”

“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result,” according to the NWS. “Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.”

​ Orange County Register 

Trump froze out Project 2025 in campaign. Its blueprint is now his healthcare playbook

• February 24, 2025

By Stephanie Armour | KFF Health News

Few voters likely expected President Donald Trump in the first weeks of his administration to slash billions of dollars from the nation’s premier federal cancer research agency.

But funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health were presaged in Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership,” a conservative plan for governing that Trump said he knew nothing about during his campaign. Now, his administration has embraced it.

The 922-page playbook compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group in Washington, says “the NIH monopoly on directing research should be broken” and calls for capping payments to universities and their hospitals to “help reduce federal taxpayer subsidization of leftist agendas.”

Universities, now slated to face sweeping cuts in agency grants that cover these overhead costs, say the policy will destroy ongoing and future biomedical science. A federal judge temporarily halted the cuts to medical research on Feb. 10 after they drew legal challenges from medical institutions and 22 states.

Project 2025 as Prologue

The rapid-fire adoption of many of Project 2025’s objectives indicates that Trump acolytes — many of its contributors were veterans of his first term, and some have joined his second administration — have for years quietly laid the groundwork to disrupt the national health system. That runs counter to Trump’s insistence on the campaign trail, after Democrats made Project 2025 a potent attack line, that he was ignorant of the document.

“I have no idea what Project 2025 is,” Trump said Oct. 31 at a rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, one of many times he disclaimed any knowledge of the plan. “I’ve never read it, and I never will.”

But because his administration is hewing to the Heritage Foundation-compiled playbook so closely, opposition groups and some state Democratic leaders say they’re able to act swiftly to counter Trump’s moves in court.

They’re now preparing for Trump to act on Project 2025 recommendations for some of the nation’s largest and most important health programs, including Medicaid and Medicare, and for federal health agencies.

“There has been a lot of planning on the litigation side to challenge the executive orders and other early actions from a lot of different organizations,” said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. “Project 2025 allowed for some preparation.”

The plan, for example, calls for state flexibility to impose premiums for some beneficiaries, work requirements, and lifetime caps or time limits on Medicaid coverage for some enrollees in the program for low-income and disabled Americans, which could lead to a surge in the number of uninsured after the Biden administration vastly expanded the program’s coverage.

“These proposals don’t directly alter eligibility for Medicaid or the benefits provided, but the ultimate effect would be fewer people with health coverage,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. “When you erect barriers to people enrolling in Medicaid, like premiums or documenting work status, you end up rationing coverage by complexity and ability to pay.”

Congressional Republicans are contemplating a budget plan that could result in hundreds of billions of dollars being trimmed from Medicaid over 10 years.

Project 2025 called for expanding access to health plans that don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act’s strongest consumer protections. That may lead to more choice and lower monthly premiums for buyers, but unwitting consumers may face potentially massive out-of-pocket costs for care the plans won’t cover.

And Project 2025 called for halting Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood affiliates. The organization, an important health care provider for women across the country, gets roughly $700 million annually from Medicaid and other government programs, based on its 2022-23 report. Abortion made up about 4% of services the organization provided to patients, the report says.

The administration’s steps to scrub words such as “equity” from federal documents, erase transgender identifiers, and curtail international medical aid — all part of the Project 2025 wish list — have already had sweeping ramifications, hobbling access to health care and eviscerating international programs that aim to prevent disease and improve maternal health outcomes.

Under a memorandum issued in January, for example, Trump reinstated and expanded a ban on federal funds to global organizations that provide legal information on abortions.

Studies have found that the ban, known as the “global gag rule” or “Mexico City Policy,” has stripped millions of dollars away from foreign aid groups that didn’t abide by it. It’s also had a chilling effect: In Zambia, one group removed information in brochures on contraception, and in Turkey, some providers stopped talking with patients about menstrual regulation as a form of family planning.

Project 2025 called on the next president to reinstate the gag rule, saying it “should be drafted broadly to apply to all foreign assistance.”

Trump also signed an executive order rolling back transgender rights by banning federal funds for transition-related care for people under age 19. An order he signed also directed the federal government to recognize only two sexes, male and female, and use the term “sex” instead of “gender.”

The Project 2025 document calls for deleting the term “gender identity” from federal rules, regulations, and grants and for unwinding policies and procedures that its authors say are used to advance a “radical redefinition of sex.” In addition, it states that Department of Health and Human Services programs should “protect children’s minds and bodies.”

“Radical actors inside and outside government are promoting harmful identity politics that replaces biological sex with subjective notions of ‘gender identity,’” the Project 2025 road map reads.

Data Disappears

As a result of Trump’s order on gender identity, health researchers say, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took down online information about transgender health and removed data on LGBTQ+ health. A federal judge on Feb. 11 ordered that much of the information be restored; the administration complied but added notices to some webpages labeling them “extremely inaccurate” and claiming they don’t “reflect biological reality.”

The CDC also delayed the release of information and findings on bird flu in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Federal workers have said they were told to retract papers that contain words such as “nonbinary” or “transgender.” And some hospitals suspended gender-affirming care such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for youths.

Advocacy groups say the orders discriminate and pose barriers to medically necessary care, and transgender children and their families have filed a number of court challenges.

Lawyers, advocates, and researchers say implementation of many of Project 2025’s health policy goals poses a threat.

“The playbook presents an antiscience, antidata, and antimedicine agenda,” according to a piece last year by Boston University researchers in JAMA.

The Project 2025 blueprint sets out goals to curb access to medication abortion, restructure public health agencies, and weaken protections against sex-based discrimination. It would have seniors enroll by default in Medicare Advantage plans run by commercial insurers, in essence privatizing the health program for older Americans. And it calls for eliminating coverage requirements for Affordable Care Act plans that people buy without federal subsidies, which, insurance experts say, risks leaving people underinsured.

“It’s the agenda of the Trump administration,” said Robert Weissman, a co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights advocacy group. “It’s to minimize access to care under the guise of strict work requirements in Medicaid, privatizing Medicare, and rolling back consumer protections and subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.”

The White House didn’t respond to a message seeking comment. Conservatives have said implementation of the project’s proposals would curb waste and fraud in federal health programs and free health systems from the clutches of a radical “woke” agenda.

“Americans are tired of their government being used against them,” Paul Dans, a lawyer and former director of Project 2025, said last year in a statement. “The administrative state is, at best, completely out of touch with the American people and, at worst, is weaponized against them.”

Dans did not return messages seeking comment for this article.

The Heritage Foundation has sought to separate itself and Project 2025 from Trump’s executive orders and other initiatives on health.

“This isn’t about our recommendations in Project 2025 – something we’ve been doing for more than 40 years. This is about President Trump delivering on his promises to make America safer, stronger, and better than ever before, and he and his team deserve the credit,” Ellen Keenan, a spokesperson for Heritage, said in a statement.

Versions of the document have been produced roughly every four years since the 1980s and have influenced other GOP presidents. Former President Ronald Reagan adopted about two-thirds of the recommendations from an earlier Heritage guide, the group says.

In some instances, the Trump administration hasn’t just followed Project 2025’s proposals but has gone beyond them.

The document called on the next president to scale back and “deradicalize” the U.S. Agency for International Development, an independent federal agency that provides foreign aid and assistance, including for many international health programs. The administration hasn’t just scaled back USAID. Trump adviser Elon Musk bragged on his social media platform, X, that his “Department of Government Efficiency” fed the agency “into the wood chipper,” physically closing its offices and putting nearly all its staff on administrative leave while ending funding for its programs and disseminating misinformation about them.

But the administration risks waning public support if it adopts the project’s goals to upend U.S. health care and health policy. Almost 60% of voters said they felt negatively about Project 2025 in a September poll by NBC News.

“Project 2025 was never a thought exercise; it was always a blueprint,” said Ally Boguhn, a spokesperson for Reproductive Freedom for All, an abortion rights group. “We’re only a few weeks into his presidency, and it’s setting the groundwork for even more.”

We’d like to speak with current and former personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies who believe the public should understand the impact of what’s happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please message KFF Health News on Signal at (415) 519-8778 or get in touch here.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County judge accidentally fired the gunshot that killed his wife, defense attorney tells jury

• February 24, 2025

An Orange County Superior Court judge accidentally shot and killed his wife at their Anaheim Hills home after his shoulder gave out and he fumbled the firearm, a defense attorney told jurors on Monday, Feb. 24 during the judge’s ongoing murder trial.

The defense attorney acknowledged that Judge Jeffrey Ferguson is an alcoholic who was arguing with his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, before pulling the gun that killed her out of his ankle holster, but denied that the Aug. 3, 2023 killing was intentional.

“Mr. Ferguson, who was 72-year-old (at the time), shot and killed his wife with a Glock Model 27 .40 caliber,” Attorney Cameron Talley said, referring to a concealed carry pistol that the judge constantly carried in an ankle holster. “The evidence is also going to show, without question, that it was an accident that resulted from an accidental discharge of his firearm.”

Talley promised jurors that they would hear from Judge Ferguson directly. Earlier in the morning, Ferguson confirmed to a judge while outside the presence of the jury that he intends to take the stand.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt, during the prosecution’s opening statement last week, told jurors that a heated argument between the judge and his wife ended with the wife — angered at her husband pointing a finger at her to mimic a firearm — allegedly telling the judge something to the effect of “Why don’t you use a real gun?” and the judge immediately responding by taking his pistol from the ankle holster and shooting his wife.

Ferguson — who had been a prosecutor and a judge for more than three decades — got a concealed carry license after prosecuting cases related to the Mexican Mafia, his defense attorney said. According to testimony in the trial, Ferguson only removed the gun and the holster when he was sleeping or taking a shower.

Jeffrey and Sheryl Ferguson had been married for 27 years. Talley, the defense attorney, told jurors that the couple had no history of domestic violence, but did argue and fight. The main sources of tension in their relationship were Judge Ferguson’s daily drinking, his attorney said, and money they had given to an older son from the judge’s previous marriage that Sheryl didn’t feel the son was appreciative enough of.

“Never physical, but sometimes they would have shouting matches and raise their voices,” Talley said of the couple’s arguments.

The day of the shooting, an argument over finances began at the family home, continued when the couple went out to eat with their then-22-year-old son, who was at home from college over the summer, and culminated when the couple and their son came home and watched some of the final episodes of the television show “Breaking Bad” together.

The defense attorney acknowledged that while at dinner, Judge Ferguson made a “finger gun” motion at his wife in the midst of their argument. But the defense attorney said he did it to signal “You got me, you win,” to his wife. However, the defense attorney said, other people at the restaurant saw the “finger gun” motion, leaving Sheryl Ferguson embarrassed and angry.

The judge was drinking before the couple and their son left for dinner, at the restaurant and when they returned home, his attorney acknowledged. But Talley added that the judge was trying to make amends to his wife while they were watching television.

While the couple’s son, Phillip, testified to hearing his mother say something like “Why don’t you use a real gun,” the defense attorney told jurors that Judge Ferguson instead heard her say something like “Why don’t you put the real gun away for me?” She also made “pshew, pshew” sounds, the defense attorney added, apparently mimicking gunshots.

“He is a little drunk, a little confused,” Talley said of Judge Ferguson’s reaction to his wife’s alleged comments. “So he rocks forward and gets the gun out.”

Judge Ferguson — who was around 280 pounds at the time — struggled to get up and reach toward a coffee table, where books blocked him from placing the weapon straight forward, his attorney told jurors. Judge Ferguson turned the gun to the side to fit it on the table, his attorney said, when his shoulder — which had three out of four tendons gone — gave out, and his finger slid from the side of the gun onto the trigger, causing the pistol to fire.

On the night of the shooting, the couple’s son told detectives that he saw his father pull the gun from the holster, aim and fire the weapon. But, during his testimony last week, the son changed his story slightly, telling jurors that he didn’t actually see his father pull out the weapon and aim — instead claiming he turned around right before the gun went off — and for the first time describing up to 30 seconds going by between the mother commenting about the gun and the gun firing.

Not wanting to delay paramedics getting to his wife by forcing officers to search for a shooter, Judge Ferguson walked out of the home to the front yard, his attorney said, while his son frantically performed CPR on his mother.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Ferguson texted to the clerk and bailiff assigned to the courtroom he presided in at the time at the Fullerton courthouse “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.” He also told the arriving officers “I did it” and “shoot me,” and while in custody at the Anaheim Police Station made a series of seemingly incriminating comments, including saying to himself “I killed her. Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, convict my ass. I did it.”

Ferguson’s attorney said the judge was in shock, and still drunk, after the shooting. He knew it was going to take at least a few days to sort out the shooting, his attorney said, so his comments to his court staff were meant to say he wouldn’t be back the next day, not that he would never return. And the reference to jurors was simply the judge talking in the legal parlance he was used to, his attorney said, not him addressing an actual future jury that would decide his fate.

As Ferguson sobered up and the realization of his wife’s death sunk in, his attorney said, he was overcome by guilt and self-loathing, even if he didn’t believe he was legally responsible. At one point, Talley noted, Ferguson said to a detective “It was the blink of a (expletive) eye, the blink of an eye. Jesus Christ.” At another point, the defense attorney added, Ferguson told a detective “I didn’t mean to kill her.”

At the end of his opening statement, Talley told the jurors that he is asking them to find Judge Ferguson not guilty of any criminal charge.

The prosecution earlier in the day told the judge, outside the presences of the jury, that at this point in the trial they expect to argue for a second-degree murder conviction.

A Los Angeles County judge is presiding over the trial in a Santa Ana courtroom in order to avoid a conflict of interest with Ferguson’s Orange County judicial colleagues.

The same judge, Eleanor J. Hunter, ruled last year that Ferguson had lied on the stand while testifying in a bail review hearing. Ferguson testified during that earlier hearing that his use of cortisone cream and hand sanitizer had caused a false-positive reading on his ankle monitor. But Judge Hunter described that argument as “ridiculous” and doubled Ferguson’s bail to $2 million.

Whether the prosecution will be able to use Judge Hunter’s description of Ferguson lying on the stand in that earlier hearing while questioning Ferguson when he testifies in the murder trial has yet to be determined.

​ Orange County Register 

Judge rejects immediately restoring AP’s access to White House but urges government to reconsider

• February 24, 2025

By MATT SEDENSKY

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday refused to immediately order the White House to restore The Associated Press’ access to presidential events, saying the news organization had not demonstrated it had suffered irreparable harm in the matter. But he urged the government to reconsider its two-week-old ban, saying that case law “is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.”

U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden’s decision was only for the moment, however. He told attorneys for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling.

McFadden peppered both sides with questions during arguments over a lawsuit the AP filed Friday saying that its First Amendment rights were being violated by the ban, which began gradually two weeks ago. President Donald Trump said it was punishment for the agency’s decision not to entirely follow his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

McFadden, discussing the composition of the “press pool” that is chosen by the White House Correspondents’ Association, questioned why the government was obligated to follow those choices. “It feels a little odd that the White House is somehow bound by the decisions this private organization is making,” the judge told AP attorneys.

He also questioned AP’s noting of its longtime membership in the White House press pool. “Is this administration somehow bound by what happened with President McKinley?” the judge asked. But he noted that the correspondents’ group had been tasked by the White House to choose the members of its pool.

“The White House has accepted the correspondents’ association to be the referee here, and has just discriminated against one organization. That does seem problematic,” McFadden said in an exchange with government attorney Brian Hudak.

Later, McFadden warned the government’s attorney to reconsider its position, saying “case law in this circuit is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.”

The AP says it is adhering to the “Gulf of Mexico” terminology because its audience is global and the waters are not only in U.S. territory, but it is acknowledging Trump’s rechristening as well.

AP says the issue strikes at the very core of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which bars the government from punishing speech. The White House says access to the president is a privilege, not a right.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration began barring the AP from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other areas that have been open to the agency for a century as part of the White House press pool. The dispute stems from AP’s refusal to change its style in referring to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump decreed the “Gulf of America” via an executive order.

The AP named three Trump officials – White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt – as defendants. The agency, a nonprofit news outlet in operation since 1846, called the White House’s move a “targeted attack” of the sort barred by the First Amendment.

“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” the AP said in its lawsuit.

The White House says its move to restrict AP is not an infringement of free-speech rights. “The only person who has the absolute right to occupy those spaces is the president of the United States,” Wiles wrote to Julie Pace, AP’s executive editor, in an email included in the agency’s lawsuit. “For the rest of us, it’s a privilege, and to suggest otherwise is wrong.”

​ Orange County Register 

CIF-SS girls basketball finals: First look at the Orange County matchups, dates and locations

• February 24, 2025

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Orange County’s depth in girls basketball will again be on display Friday and Saturday as four county schools compete for CIF Southern Section championships.

The foursome of Rosary, El Toro, Tesoro and Santa Ana gives Orange County at least four finalists for the first time since 2022 and surpasses the county’s tally of three finalists each of the past two seasons.

Orange County has captured at least two section titles the past five years.

Rosary (18-12) is the highest ranked of the O.C. finalists at No. 18. Led by veteran coaches Richard Yoon and Leslie Aragon, the Royals play Rolling Hills Prep (20-8) in the Division 2A final Friday at 2 p.m. at Toyota Arena in Ontario.

Rosary is a young squad and could start four sophomores and a junior, Kate Duarte, a forward, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds in the semifinals and averages a team-leading 9.8 points for the season.

At Toyota Arena, general admission is $24 and $12 for students with ID. Parking is $15. Tickets for all finals can be purchased at GoFan.co.

El Toro, Tesoro and Santa Ana will all play at Edison High on Saturday.

Santa Ana (16-12) will tip off first against Hillcrest (21-6) in the Division 5AA final at 10 a.m.

It will be the Saints’ second appearance in a section final in the past four years. They were the Division 5A runner-up in ’22.

Kalleigh Solis, a senior shooting guard, averaged 22.5 points last week in the quarterfinals and semifinals. She averages 17.2 points for the season.

Tesoro (22-11) has reached its first section final and will face Serra (18-12) in the Division 4AA championship at 2 p.m.

The Titans are one of the county’s most improved teams. They finished 4-23 last season and missed playoffs after falling in the first round of Division 2A in 2023. “It’s a rages to riches story,” said Tesoro coach Ra Reyes, whose top scorers include Caitlyn Tse and Samantha Burkett (both 8.7 ppg).

El Toro (17-11) will play Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary (22-7) in Division 3A final at 6 p.m.

The Chargers have reached their first section final since Giuliana Mendiola’s junior season of 1998-1999 when they fell to top-seeded Peninsula in Division 1AA.

One of the Chargers’ top players is senior Camryn Bradshaw. The senior post is committed to Princeton for softball and also helped El Toro’s girls flag football team reach the Division 2 quarterfinals. Junior Mia Cubacub averages a team-high 15.4 points.

At Edison, general admission is $15 and $7 for students.

SCHEDULE

Division 2A

Rosary (18-12) vs. Rollings Hill Prep (20-8) at Toyota Arena, Friday, 2 p.m.

Division 3A

El Toro (17-11) vs. Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary (22-7) at Edison High, Saturday, 6 p.m.

Division 4AA

Tesoro (22-11) vs. Serra (18-12) at Edison High, Saturday, 2 p.m.

Division 5AA

Santa Ana (16-12) vs. Hillcrest (21-6) at Edison High, Saturday, 10 a.m.

​ Orange County Register