Chargers, OLB Khalil Mack agree on 1-year, $18-million contract

• March 10, 2025

In the end, outside linebacker Khalil Mack decided to return to play for the Chargers for another year rather than retire after 11 stellar seasons in the NFL. Mack will re-sign with the Chargers for a fourth season with them, agreeing Monday to a one-year contract worth a fully guaranteed $18 million.

NFL Network and ESPN, citing unnamed sources, first reported the agreement. The Chargers then formally announced the contract later Monday morning.

Mack, who turned 34 last month, considered retirement after the Chargers’ loss in a wild-card game to the Houston Texans on Jan. 11. The Chargers considered Mack an integral part of their roster and general manager Joe Hortiz made it clear he intended to retain the services of the nine-time Pro Bowl selection.

“I love Khalil,” Hortiz said back in January.

By re-signing Mack, the Chargers kept him from hitting the open free-agent market on Wednesday. Mack would have been an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his Hall of Fame-caliber career. He spent this past season in the final year of a six-year deal he signed with the Chicago Bears.

The Chargers acquired Mack from the Bears amidst a flurry of deals during the 2022 offseason, igniting talk from pundits of a run to the Super Bowl. The Chargers have reached the playoffs twice in Mack’s tenure, losing in a wild card game to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2022 season and to the Texans last season.

Mack was selected as the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year while with the then-Oakland Raiders in 2016. He has 107.5 sacks during his career, including a career-high 17 during the 2023 season. He slumped to only six sacks this past season, but that could be partly attributed to a midseason groin injury.

CHARGERS CUT EDWARDS

The Chargers said they had released running back Gus Edwards, who they had signed last year to a two-year contract. Edwards was the second player the Chargers released after parting ways with veteran outside linebacker Joey Bosa, their longest-tenured player, last week.

By cutting Edwards and Bosa, the Chargers have more than $93 million in salary cap space going into the start of free agency at 1 p.m. (PDT) on Wednesday. As of Monday, the Chargers had only 45 players on their active roster, which could make for a very busy free agency period.

Edwards played 12 games last season with the Chargers, including six starts, and rushed for 356 yards and four touchdowns.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Status Update: Palette Dim Sum coming to Tustin Market Place

• March 10, 2025

Palette Dim Sum, a Chinese-Cantonese restaurant that serves colorful dim sum and wok dishes, is coming to The Market Place in Tustin, replacing a shuttered Wokcano.

The restaurant, owned by Palette Tea House Group in San Francisco, is the first for the company in Southern California.

Las Vegas fans might have tried the Palette dim sum on a trip to Sin City. In addition to a Palette Tea House in San Francisco, the company also operates a Palette Tea Garden in San Mateo.

The restaurant, which serves lunch and dinner, sells a signature Palette XLB sampler that comes with soup dumplings colored with turmeric, paprika, squid ink, beets and spinach. XLB is the shorthand spelling for xiao-long-bao dumplings — a dumpling wrapped around a mouthful of meat filling and a splash of soup base.

Irvine Company, the retail center’s owner, expects the restaurant to open in April.

Address: 3015 El Camino Real

Novelty shop coming to Market Place

MINISO, a Chinese retailer that sells Japanese novelty items, opened in mid-February at The Market Place on the Tustin side.

A grand opening celebration for the shop takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 14. The store is near the TJ Maxx and Old Navy on El Camino Real at Jamboree Road.

The MINISO in Tustin will be the company’s second-largest in the U.S., according to Irvine Co., the retail center owner.

The retailer sells a wide variety of toys, collectibles and other oddities. Think dolls and stationary, pens, stuffed animals and wallets/purses. Miniso has some 7,100 stores worldwide.

Frida & Diego closes in Anaheim Hills

The Mexican restaurant Frida & Diego closed abruptly in Anaheim Hills.

Employees at the pizza restaurant next door, Pepz Pizza, said the restaurant closed three weeks ago with little to no notice.

The restaurant at 6300 E Santa Ana Canyon Road also was marked closed on Yelp.

Hoag Classic returns to Newport Beach

The Hoag Classic returns March 16-23 for its 29th year at the Newport Beach Country Club.

The 2025 players competing for the $2 million purse include golf legends Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Darren Clarke and David Duval.

All three rounds of the tournament will be broadcast on the Golf Channel.

The PGA Tour Champions event has raised more than $25 million over the years for Hoag’s program and services.

For information about tickets, pricing and the schedule, go to HoagClassic.com.

On the move

Eric Zimmerman has returned to Roland DG Corp. in Irvine, this time as its director of Global Market Research. With some 25 years in signs and graphics, Zimmerman previously worked for six years as director of Wide-Format Print for the Keypoint Intelligence and before that held several roles at Roland DG. In his new position, he will work with global marketing, product and sales teams. Roland DG makes wide-format inkjet printers, vinyl cutters, 3D milling machines and more.

On board

Hyo Kim recently was appointed to the board of directors of the nonprofit Dragon Kim Foundation. Kim is chief operating officer for Ark Clinical Research of Long Beach.

Beyond Blindness recipient of $780K in grants

Several organizations have contributed $780,000 in grants to the nonprofit Beyond Blindness in Santa Ana. The money will go toward the organization’s programs for children with visual impairments and other disabilities and their families. Contributors include:

—Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative ($150,000 over two years)

—The Dean Family ($25,000) and Enterprise Bank ($5,000), Del E. Webb Foundation ($100,000) for playground renovation

—Department of Developmental Services ($250,000)

—Dhont Family Foundation ($120,000), playground project and supportive services

—HealthCare Foundation for Orange County ($15,000)

—Pacific Life Foundation ($100,000) for new Head Start partnership and another $15,000 for year-round programs

Good works

GSF Foundation – the nonprofit at Golden State Foods in Irvine – recently hosted a bike building event with the Taco Bell Foundation, a first collaboration between the two foundations. The event, which featured a number of executives from both companies, was held at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and the Inland Empire. The team put together 22 bikes.

The S. Mark Taper Foundation has given Second Harvest Food Bank a $150,000 grant to support the nonprofit’s work feeding the hungry in Orange County. Second Harvest feeds an average 446,673 community members each month. “This recognition comes at a crucial time as the level of food insecurity in our community continues to rise,” said Claudia Bonilla Keller, CEO of the food bank.

Orange County Rescue Mission is the recipient of a $200,000 grant from the annual Chick-fil-A True Inspiration Awards program. The Rescue Mission will use the money to expand its programs providing housing, rehabilitation and other essential services living with homelessness in Orange County.

Status Update is compiled and written by Business Editor Samantha Gowen. Submit items and high-resolution photos to sgowen@scng.com. Allow at least one week for publication. Items are edited for length and clarity.

​ Orange County Register 

CSUF’s de Graaf Center and Marine Museum preserve oral history of the air base

• March 10, 2025

A partnership between the Lawrence de Graaf Center for Public and Oral History at Cal State Fullerton and the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum at Great Park in Irvine will add a new and unique layer to the storied aircraft flown by U.S. Marine pilots over the decades.

The center is donating a copy of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Project, which features more than 500 oral histories, helping to bring to life the more than 40 aircraft and related artifacts and exhibits to be displayed in the 131,000-square-foot museum when it reopens in late 2026 or early 2027.

The El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Project includes interviews with military pilots, enlisted Marines, veterans’ families, civilian employees and others who had a connection to the air station from World War II to the Vietnam War.

Jessica Stern, dean of CSUF’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Natalie Fousekis, director of the Center for Public and Oral History, and other officials from the university and the museum, were on hand when the partnership was announced on Feb.10 at Hangar 297 at Great Park, which currently houses the aircraft.

Many of the aircraft that will be displayed in the new museum are currently being stored and restored in the hangar.

“I have to say I’m kind of moved by being here,” Stern said. “I’m an early-American historian, and I think, as most of my fellow historians in the room know, so much of our life is spent trying to picture worlds, reading sources, but the power of being in a place where everything is made manifest … I’m really touched by this; I’m really touched by the mission of what you are doing here, and I feel so honored to be a part of that.”

Fousekis said the collaboration ensures that the oral histories are not just stored in an archive but are used in exhibitions and made accessible to the public.

The collection includes the first Marine Corps female general and African American general, Fousekis said.

“So, it just feels really special to be back here in one of these hangars, which many of the Marines that we interviewed talked about,” Fousekis said.

Through the center’s student-driven oral history program, the recorded El Toro memories were conducted by 35 undergraduate and graduate students, Fousekis and Volker Janssen, professor of history.

The original oral history interviews will remain in the archives at the center, housed within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Pollak Library, Fousekis said.

The collection is available to students, faculty, researchers and the public by appointment. The partnership will offer career training and learning opportunities at the museum to students and community members.

The museum will offer two internships each semester, one paid and one for academic credit.

CSUF senior Eli Wolcott, a senior history major, is currently interning as a digital archivist.

Wolcott, who hopes to be a museum curator, digitalizes books, aircraft manuals and photographs, which he then turns into searchable PDFs.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Wolcott said. “I’ve always been into history and military history. My family has a long service history. So, getting to basically contribute in my own way is nice for me. It is a big privilege. I’m very excited. I’m happy to be able to get more experience behind the scenes of the museum.”

Col. Patrick “Paddy” Gough, vice chair of the board of directors of the museum and a graduate of CSUF, said he discovered the value of oral history while doing his own oral history project as a CSUF student.

Years later, Gough became the president of the Cal State Fullerton Alumni Association, where he met Fousekis, who told him about the El Toro Oral History Project, which had stalled due to a lack of funds.

Gough reached out to Marine Lt. Gen. Keith Stalder, the national commander for the Marine Corps Aviation Historical Society and the Aviation Museum.

He then met with Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, who had been interviewed for the El Toro project, and Brig. Gen. Michael Aguilar, president of the museum.

“I started thinking, especially when Gen. Robling told me that he was interviewed for the oral history project, wouldn’t this be a great idea to bring the two entities together?” Gough said. “The major university in Orange County and the legacy and the heritage of Marine aviation at large, but specifically in Orange County.”

“So that’s how we got here,” Gough said. “And now, today, I think it’ll be a great opportunity to solidify that relationship and make it go beyond that.”

​ Orange County Register 

Ontario slaps 25% increase on electricity exports to U.S. in response to Trump’s trade war

• March 10, 2025

By ROB GILLIES

TORONTO (AP) — Ontario’s premier, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, announced that effective Monday it is charging 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million Americans in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan.

“I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If the United State escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference in Toronto.

“Believe me when I say I do not want to do this. I feel terrible for the American people who didn’t start this trade war. It’s one person who is responsible, it’s President Trump.”

Ford said Ontario’s tariff would remain in place despite the one-month reprieve from Trump, noting a one-month pause means nothing but more uncertainty.

Ford’s office said the new market rules require any generator selling electricity to the U.S. to add a 25% surcharge. Ontario’s government expects it to generate revenue of $300,000 Canadian dollars ($208,000) to CA$400,000 ($277,000) per day, “which will be used to support Ontario workers, families and businesses.”

The new surcharge is in addition to the federal government’s initial CA$30 billion ($21 billion) worth of retaliatory tariffs have been applied on items like American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and certain pulp and paper products.

Trump launched a new trade war last week by imposing tariffs against Washington’s three biggest trading partners, drawing immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China and sending financial markets into a tailspin.

Trump later said he has postponed 25% tariffs on many goods from Canada and Mexico for a month, amid widespread fears of a broader trade war.

Ford estimated it will add about CA$100 ($69) a month to the bills of each American affected.

“It needs to end. Until these tariffs are off the table, until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, Ontario will not relent,” Ford said.

Ford said Trump changes his mind every day, but if he continues to attack Canada he will do everything it takes to maximize the pain.

“Republicans, at least the ones I speak to, do not agree with President Trump but they are too scared to go out there and say it publicly,” Ford said. “It’s a shame but we need to end this.”

​ Orange County Register 

Immigration agents arrest Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests

• March 10, 2025

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday who played a prominent role in Columbia University’s protests against Israel, a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s pledge to detain and deport student activists.

Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December, was inside his university-owned apartment Saturday night when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.

Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed Khalil’s arrest in a statement Sunday, describing it as being “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”

Khalil’s arrest is the first publicly known deportation effort under Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring. The administration has claimed participants forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas.

McLaughlin signaled the arrest was directly connected to Khalil’s role in the protests, alleging he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

As ICE agents arrived at Khalil’s Manhattan residence Saturday night, they also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant, Greer said.

Khalil’s attorney said they were initially informed that he was being held at an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But when his wife tried to visit Sunday, she learned he was not there. Greer said she still did not know Khalil’s whereabouts as of Sunday night.

“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told the AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”

A Columbia University spokesperson said law enforcement agents must produce a warrant before entering university property, but declined to say if the school had received one ahead of Khalil’s arrest. The spokesperson declined to comment on Khalil’s detention.

In a message shared on X Sunday evening, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

The Department of Homeland Security can initiate deportation proceedings against green card holders for a broad range of alleged criminal activity, including supporting a terror group. But the detention of a legal permanent resident who has not been charged with a crime marked an extraordinary move with an uncertain legal foundation, according to immigration experts.

“This has the appearance of a retaliatory action against someone who expressed an opinion the Trump administration didn’t like,” said Camille Mackler, founder of Immigrant ARC, a coalition of legal service providers in New York.

Khalil, who received his master’s degree from Columbia’s school of international affairs last semester, served as a negotiator for students as they bargained with university officials over an end to the tent encampment erected on campus last spring.

The role made him one of the most visible activists in support of the movement, prompting calls from pro-Israel activists in recent weeks for the Trump administration to begin deportation proceedings against him.

Khalil was also among those under investigation by a new Columbia University office that has brought disciplinary charges against dozens of students for their pro-Palestinian activism, according to records shared with the AP.

The investigations come as the Trump administration has followed through on its threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Columbia because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.

The university’s allegations against Khalil focused on his involvement in the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group. He faced sanctions for potentially helping to organize an “unauthorized marching event” in which participants glorified Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and playing a “substantial role” in the circulation of social media posts criticizing Zionism, among other acts of alleged discrimination.

“I have around 13 allegations against me, most of them are social media posts that I had nothing to do with,” Khalil told the AP last week.

“They just want to show Congress and right-wing politicians that they’re doing something, regardless of the stakes for students,” he added. “It’s mainly an office to chill pro-Palestine speech.”

​ Orange County Register 

OC supervisors ask if county is ready to support citizen children in mixed immigration status families

• March 10, 2025

Orange County supervisors Doug Chaffee and Vicente Sarmiento want to know if the county is prepared to care for U.S. citizen children from mixed immigration households should they be separated from their families. The supervisors also want county leaders to affirm the rights the children have as citizens.

On Tuesday, March 11, the OC Board of Supervisors is set to consider a resolution proposed by the two men reminding the public of the rights of U.S. citizen children regardless of their parent’s immigration status, but also asking for an update on the county’s readiness to address needs if children suddenly find themselves alone and review what services and initiatives are in place to support children stressed and fearful of a potential deportation of family.

The proposed resolution follows President Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportations across the country, increasing the possibility of citizen children facing family separation. On his first day in office, Trump signed hundreds of executive orders, including making changes to immigration policies and declaring a state of emergency at the southern border.

“It is simply a reality that children separated from their parents could be left without any support and will require the intervention from the county to ensure their well-being,” Chaffee said in a statement. “It is our responsibility to keep them safe.”

Sarmiento said the county should keep families vulnerable to separation informed and “provide them with resources on how they should proceed.”

“It’s just understanding what the county’s role is, specifically the social services agency, and making sure we have some protocol to address that and work with probably our school districts, more than likely,” he said.

The supervisors also want to ask county agencies to assess their readiness to address the family separation issue and report back to the Board of Supervisors. The report would include what plans exist to place in care the children who don’t have a place to go and what supportive services may be available.

Children born in the United States to immigrant parents are U.S. citizens and have the right to live free of fear and discrimination, the supervisors’ proposed resolution declares.

“Local governments have a responsibility to ensure fairness, equality, and justice for all residents, and U.S. citizen children should not face disadvantages or an erosion of their constitutional rights due to their parents’ immigration status,” the proposed resolution says.

The OC Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

​ Orange County Register 

Car theft suspect leads Garden Grove Police on pursuit into Anaheim; is arrested after K9 deployment

• March 10, 2025

GARDEN GROVE — A 28-year-old suspected car thief was taken into custody after a pursuit Sunday that damaged a pair of police vehicles.

Around 1:50 p.m. Sunday, officers observed a black Land Rover near the intersection of Harbor and Garden Grove boulevards, according to the Garden Grove Police Department. The SUV matched the description of a vehicle stolen during a commercial burglary earlier in the day.

When police tried to stop the vehicle, the suspect immediately drove away, leading to a pursuit through several cities, according to the GGPD. The driver intentionally rammed two police vehicles before finally stopping on the Riverside (91) Freeway east of Imperial Highway in Anaheim.

A police armored vehicle was used to prevent the man vehicle from fleeing again and after several unsuccessful attempts to make the man exit the SUV, a K9 unit was used.

The suspect, a Santa Ana resident, was then taken into custody and transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries acquired during his arrest. He was then to be booked into Orange County Jail.

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks snap skid with complete win over Islanders

• March 10, 2025

ANAHEIM — The Ducks turned in one of the most complete games of their campaign, flogging the New York Islanders, 4-1, at Honda Center on Sunday evening in a contest where they scored a goal in each period before adding an empty-netter.

Mason McTavish tallied in the third and, in the first, he set up Sam Colangelo, who later scored again into the vacated cage. Drew Helleson struck in the middle frame. Seven different Ducks 23 or under recorded a point Sunday, and all eight players with at least one point were 25 or younger. Lukáš Dostál stopped 31 of 32 shots, and he was just 4:50 away from his second shutout of the season.

Tony DeAngelo scored the Isles’ lone goal. Marcus Högborg made 24 saves for New York, which now sat four points back of a postseason berth.

The Islanders entered the game having won four of their past five decisions, including Saturday’s 4-2 victory in San Jose. But their muffled offense and less-than-optimal legs were no match Sunday for the Ducks, who nipped a two-game slump in the bud and moved seven points back of idle Calgary for the last available playoff spot in the West.

“We’re desperate for points. Both teams are, because (the Islanders) are right in the race, too,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “In order for us to get back into that conversation about being a potential playoff team, this was a huge game.”

Former Duck Kyle Palmieri said New York, unsurprisingly, had the inverse night of the Ducks with a “bad start, not a great middle and a push that was too little and too late.”

In the final frame, the Ducks slammed the door, getting a goal from McTavish in the first minute and a cake-icing marker by Colangelo 8:18 into the period, an absurdly early time for an empty-netter. Islanders coach and Hall-of-Fame netminder Patrick Roy became an innovator in Colorado by popularizing the trend of pulling his goalie early, but this seemed unconventional even for him.

“We pulled the goalie, really early, because we needed a lift, to create something,” said Roy, whom Cronin remarked had even pulled his goalie during defensive-zone faceoffs in the past.

McTavish’s 17th goal of the campaign was a power-play snipe from the inner part of the left circle, giving the Ducks a man-advantage marker in consecutive contests. McTavish has been the Ducks’ leading scorer since Jan. 6, stacking up 21 points in 24 outings after starting the year with 16 points in 33 appearances.

“It’s confidence. I was looking down at the screen and it said some crazy stat about how many points he had in his first 20 games [10], I couldn’t believe how low it was,” Cronin said. “He’s got a world-class shot, I think that’s showing up.”

The second stanza settled into a game more to the Islanders’ liking, a low-event affair with a measured pace, initially. Before the second intermission, however, the Ducks found not only their stride but a goal that put them up 2-0 through 40 minutes.

After a won offensive-zone faceoff, the Ducks moved the puck from low-to-high, where it located Helleson for a shot from the nook between the right-wing wall and the offensive blue line. His third goal of 2024-25 was very similar to his second, which he scored on Dec. 29 in a win over Edmonton.

Close calls abounded early, as the Ducks capitalized on the fact that the Islanders were on a back-to-back, pushing tempo and generating plenty off the rush, as well as from prime areas.

That success encompassed Frank Vatrano’s one-timer off the rush and Olen Zellweger’s activation during a break keyed by Trevor Zegras. Zegras then had the most exciting play of the first period when he nearly scored a lacrosse-style goal, his “Michigan” attempt being foiled narrowly by Högborg’s shoulder.

Roy said his team owed Högborg for his poise against the Ducks’ opening salvo, but the hosts would break through, with 2:08 left, thanks to some brilliant puck movement.

Pavel Mintyukov pushed the puck up the boards for Colangelo, who chipped it to McTavish before getting inside of Isles defenseman Noah Dobson. McTavish delivered a whirling cross-ice pass to Cutter Gauthier, who one-touched the puck to the unmarked Colangelo. It was the rookie’s fifth tally of the season, and after depositing his sixth later he had accumulated five of his six goals during his active four-game goal streak.

“Playing with two top-five picks, there was a reason they were both drafted so high,” Colangelo said of McTavish and Gauthier. “They’re both unbelievable players, playing in the league at a very young age. We read off each other very well and we get along great.”

On deck await the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin, who will enter Tuesday’s visit to Honda Center eight goals shy of tying and nine short of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record for career NHL goals.

​ Orange County Register