Trump moves to block US entry for foreigners planning to study at Harvard University

• June 5, 2025

By COLLIN BINKLEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is moving to block nearly all foreign students from entering the country to attend Harvard University, his latest attempt to choke the Ivy League school from an international pipeline that accounts for a quarter of the student body.

In an executive order signed Wednesday, Trump declared that it would jeopardize national security to allow Harvard to continue hosting foreign students on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“I have determined that the entry of the class of foreign nationals described above is detrimental to the interests of the United States because, in my judgment, Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,” Trump wrote in the order.

It’s a further escalation in the White House’s fight with the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university. A federal court in Boston blocked the Department of Homeland Security from barring international students at Harvard last week. Trump’s order invokes a different legal authority.

It stems from Harvard’s refusal to submit to a series of demands made by the federal government. It has escalated recently after the Department of Homeland Security said Harvard refused to provide records related to misconduct by foreign students.

Harvard says it has complied with the request, but the government said the school’s response was insufficient.

The dispute has been building for months after the Trump administration demanded a series of policy and governance changes at Harvard, calling it a hotbed of liberalism and accusing it of tolerating anti-Jewish harassment. Harvard defied the demands, saying they encroached on the university’s autonomy and represented a threat to the freedom of all U.S. universities. Harvard President Alan Garber also disputed the government’s allegations, saying in a letter last month that the school is nonpartisan and has taken steps to root out antisemitism on campus.

Trump officials have repeatedly raised the stakes and sought new fronts to pressure Harvard, cutting more than $2.6 billion in research grants and moving to end all federal contracts with the university. The latest threat has targeted Harvard’s roughly 7,000 international students, who account for half the enrollment at some Harvard graduate schools.

The order applies to all students attempting to enter the United States to attend Harvard after the date of the executive order. It provides a loophole to allow students whose entry would “benefit the national interest,” as determined by federal officials.

Trump’s order alleges that Harvard provided data on misconduct by only three students in response to the Homeland Security request, and it lacked the detail to gauge if federal action was needed. Trump concluded that Harvard is either “not fully reporting its disciplinary records for foreign students or is not seriously policing its foreign students.”

“These actions and failures directly undermine the Federal Government’s ability to ensure that foreign nationals admitted on student or exchange visitor visas remain in compliance with Federal law,” the order said.

For foreign students already at Harvard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will determine if visas should be revoked, Trump wrote.

The order is scheduled to last six months. Within 90 days, the administration will determine if it should be renewed, the order said.

A State Department cable sent last week to U.S. embassies and consulates said federal officials will begin reviewing the social media accounts of visa applicants who plan to attend, work at or visit Harvard University for any signs of antisemitism.

In a court filing last week, Harvard officials said the Trump administration’s efforts to stop Harvard from enrolling international students have created an environment of “profound fear, concern, and confusion.” Countless international students have asked about transferring from the university, Harvard immigration services director Maureen Martin said in the filing.

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

​ Orange County Register 

Whittier man confessed to kidnapping, slaying Fullerton College student, detective testifies

• June 5, 2025

A Whittier man told a detective that a Fullerton College student was still alive after he shot her in the head while at Penn Park in Whittier, put her in the bed of his Tacoma and drove her to Moreno Valley where he tried to rape her twice on Aug. 20, 2023.

Gabriel Esparza couldn’t get an erection. He saw a work truck down the road, put 19-year-old Andrea Vazquez of Downey back in his pickup, drove to a field, pulled her out and started dragging her, Whittier police Sgt. Jose Bolanos testified Wednesday, June 4, during the second day of Esparza’s preliminary hearing held in a Los Angeles courtroom.

“She was still talking. Talking, screaming and saying the name ‘Juju’,” Bolanos said.

“Juju” is a nickname for Julian Gonzalez, who was Vazquez’s boyfriend. The couple was hanging out at Penn Park when Esparza spotted them. He drove to two other parks before returning to Penn Park.

Vazquez’s body was found in that Moreno Valley field the night of Aug. 21, 2023. Esparza was with investigators and officers when they went there.

At the hearing Wednesday, Judge George G. Lomeli found there was enough evidence for Esparza to go to trial.

Esparza’s next court date is June 18. He has been charged with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping to commit another crime, kidnapping, assault with intent to rape and two counts of attempted rape by force.

He was also charged with the special circumstance allegations of murder during the course of a kidnapping and murder during the course of an attempted rape as well as the allegation he personally used a rifle while committing the crimes.

“So my client gave you a full confession?,” Esparza’s attorney, Ambrosio Rodriguez, asked Bolanos.

Rodriguez also asked the detective if he had to convince Esparza to take them to the victim’s body or if Esparza volunteered.

Esparza was willing to do so, Bolanos said.

But while Esparza may have revealed what happened on Aug. 20, 2023, the motive behind his actions is still unknown.

“He never said why,” Bolanos said after the hearing.

Vazquez’s family and friends filled the courtroom for the second day. Several of them cried, one gasped as Bolanos recounted what Esparza told him.

At one point, Esparza could be seen shaking. His attorney put a hand on his shoulder.

On Aug. 19, 2023, Esparza told Bolanos he went to work, arrived home around 6 or 7 p.m. then intended to sleep and go to bed. But a few moments later, he put on more clothing, went to an adjacent bedroom where he took a rifle then went out via a bedroom window, Bolanos said.

He used the window in order not to cause the dogs to bark or set off cameras, the sergeant added.

Esparza went to Michigan Park, Penn Park, Parnell Park (all in Whittier), Oak Creek Park in La Mirada then back to Penn Park where he had seen Gonzalez and Vazquez.

He drove past the couple, then went to a residential area where he removed the Tacoma’s rear license plate, Bolanos said.

Gonzalez testified on Tuesday that he and Vazquez were sitting on the trunk of his parked Accord when a white pickup stopped in front of his car.

Esparza picked up the rifle and fired from the window at Vazquez, Bolanos said.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman asked Bolanos if Esparza told him he was aiming for Vazquez’s head.

“Yes,” the sergeant said.

Vazquez fell. Esparza got out of the pickup, advanced on Gonzalez, who began running to the park, Bolanos said.

“He aimed the rifle, raised it and fired it at the male. He then grabbed the female who was crying,” Bolanos said.

Esparza put Vazquez in the truck bed and drove eastbound.

“He said he could hear the female crying from the bed of the truck. He pulled over in a residential area and fired another round,” Bolanos said, adding Esparza stuck the rifle in the tailgate.

He continued driving. In Moreno Valley, Esparza threw the victim’s phone and tried to rape her twice, according to the sergeant.

After leaving Vazquez in a field, Esparza removed his outer clothing and put it in a trash bag, Bolanos said. He headed to a Chevron station and used his Discover card to get gas. He also used wipes on himself.

He pulled over in Hacienda Heights and reattached the rear license plate, went home, placed the rifle back in its camouflage bag and went to sleep, the sergeant said.

Esparza went to work the next two days, he said. The victim’s blood was still in the truck bed and the trash bag containing his clothing and a pair of shoes with blood stains were in the truck.

Gonzalez had described the pickup and the shooter to police. He had also picked Esparza’s photo when police presented him with six photos of men.

Details of how police identified and caught Esparza came out during the hearing.

Whittier police asked Riverside to check their city-wide cameras. The camera recorded the Tacoma going through an intersection.

They also got video from the Chevron station in Moreno Valley where Esparza bought gas. The receipt showed the last four digits of the Discover card and an address, which led detectives to Esparza.

On Aug. 21, 2023, officers served search warrants at his home and at the Pep Boys at 5453 Del Amo Blvd. where he worked. His white Tacoma was at his job as well as his wallet that had the Discover card.

Detective Rudy Perez testified they found three rifles, two handguns and ammunition at the house. Two of the rifles were each stored in a camouflage bag.

“They were in a closet in the guest bedroom. Unlocked and unsecured,” Perez said, adding these two rifles were not loaded and one had a magazine attached.

Testing showed one of the rifles was used to shoot Vazquez, Silverman said.

Esparza’s DNA was on the rifle while Vazquez’s DNA matched to blood stains at the park, where she was found in Moreno Valley and in the Tacoma, she said.

After they found Vazquez’s body, detectives also searched for her cell phone that night but didn’t find it. They later searched again and found her phone.

This was the first time they heard the details of what Vazquez went through, her sister, Edlyn Vazquez, said after the hearing.

“She suffered so much,” Edlyn Vazquez said. “She cried her boyfriend’s name. She was looking for him.”

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Clarita man pleads guilty to hacking Disney employee’s computer

• June 5, 2025

A Santa Clarita man pleaded guilty Wednesday to hacking the personal computer of an employee of the Walt Disney Co. last year in order to illegally download confidential data from the Burbank-based company.

Ryan Mitchell Kramer, 25, entered a plea in downtown Los Angeles to federal counts of accessing a computer and obtaining information, and threatening to damage a protected computer. The charges each carry a sentence of up to five years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 26.

RELATED: Tentative settlement in case of ex-Disney worker who claimed discrimination due to age, Armenian heritage

According to his plea agreement, Kramer posted a computer program early last year on various online platforms, including GitHub, that purportedly could be used to create artificial intelligence-generated art. In fact, the program contained a malicious file that enabled Kramer to gain access to victims’ computers, prosecutors said.

Sometime in April and May of 2024, a victim downloaded the malicious file Kramer posted online, giving Kramer access to the victim’s personal computer, including an online account where the victim stored login credentials and passwords for the victim’s personal and work accounts.

After gaining unauthorized access to the victim’s computer and online accounts, Kramer accessed a Slack online communications account that the victim used as a Disney employee, gaining access to non-public Disney Slack channels. In May 2024, Kramer downloaded about 1.1 terabytes of confidential data from thousands of Disney Slack channels, according to the plea agreement.

In July 2024, Kramer contacted the victim via email and the online messaging platform Discord, pretending to be a member of a fake Russia-based hacktivist group called “NullBulge.” The emails and Discord message contained threats to leak the victim’s personal information and Disney data, court papers show.

On July 12, 2024, after the victim did not respond to Kramer’s threats, Kramer publicly released the stolen Disney Slack files, as well as the victim’s bank, medical, and personal information on multiple online platforms, he admitted.

Kramer further admitted in his plea agreement that, in addition to that victim, at least two other victims downloaded Kramer’s malicious file and that Kramer was able to gain unauthorized access to their computers and accounts.

​ Orange County Register 

Palestinian artist shares art, history and culture in Santa Ana

• June 4, 2025

Last August, artist Cindy El, who is Palestinian, started a workshop in Santa Ana titled “Letters for Palestine,” where she shared Palestinian poetry, heritage and history with her Orange County community.

El’s desire to keep speaking about about Palestinian culture evolved into “Art for Palestine,” a grant-funded series hosted at Santa Ana’s LibroMobile Bookstore.

“These workshops give people a chance to learn how to create (Palestinian) art and even tie it into their own culture,” the 25-year-old Santa Ana resident said.

The four-part workshop series is funded by nonprofit Community Engagement. From mid-May through June, events teach visitors about Palestinian art forms, including poetry, visual arts and theater.

The art, organizers said, explores themes of advocacy and resiliency.

One featured workshop discussed Palestinian poet and author Mahmoud Darwish and The Freedom Theater, a production company based in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, which works with Palestinian youth living under occupation, according to organizers.

El, who is Palestinian, Jordanian and Guatemalan, said that her identities and heritage inspire — and are usually incorporated into — her art.

El has been a teaching artist for around six years. She earned her bachelor’s degree in drama, with a minor in creative writing, from UC Irvine in 2023.

“While in college, I really wanted to tap into more of my Arab side and culture,” she said. “Besides embracing our culture and showing the beauty of it, I also wanted to bring awareness to others who maybe haven’t experienced this culture before.”

Through her own creative process, El said she wanted to use her words through poetry “as a tool of advocacy.” She brings these lessons into her teaching workshops. After a brief Palestinian history lesson, El connects with other artists, many want to show how their art can connect with Palestinians or what they’ve learned.

El said many workshop attendees have been from Anaheim’s Little Arabia area, resonating with the topic.

At one of her recent workshops, El and others heard from elderly Palestinians about their journey living through the Nakba displacement during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

The core of the series, El said, is to share voices, stories, art and experiences together.

A final “Art for Palestine” workshop is set for Friday, June 6, 4 p.m. at the bookstore. On Saturday, June 7, 4 p.m., the bookstore will host a free gallery show and open mic night, featuring workshop and community art.

The LibroMobile Bookstore is located at the Bristol Swap Mall, 1150 S. Bristol St. A3 in Santa Ana.

​ Orange County Register 

Calabasas estate of celebrity wedding planner David Tutera seeks $6.8M

• June 4, 2025

Celebrity wedding planner David Tutera’s Calabasas home is on the market at just under $6.8 million.

Sited on a nearly 8.75-acre cul-de-sac lot, the 6,504-square-foot Mediterranean-style house is one of only seven properties in the gated Country Ridge neighborhood in the Santa Monica Mountains. It features six bedrooms, nine bathrooms and a main living area with a towering linen-wrapped fireplace, a built-in bar and decorative ceiling ornamentation.

A formal dining room and sunroom provide direct access to the patio gardens.

Tutera and his husband, Joey Toth, bought the home new in December 2016 for $3.4 million, according to the deed viewed at PropertyShark.

In a video interview with the firm representing the listing, Tutera shared their goal to create “a unique space” and “a sanctuary” for their family through design.

They initially listed the property in January for about $7.5 million before reducing the price by 10%.

The front door opens into the entrance hall with a staircase.

Beyond it lies the gourmet kitchen with high-end stainless steel appliances, a breakfast bar and a butler’s pantry. It flows into the breakfast nook, family room and an extended sitting area that leads outdoors.

The second-floor landing serves as a library and is adjacent to the den.

Down the hallway are the bedrooms, ending in the primary suite, which features a walk-in closet and a spa-inspired bathroom with a soaking tub, steam shower and water closet.

The grounds offer canyon and ridgeline views, a resort-style pool, a barbecue center with a dining bar, and a large artificial turf area suitable for hosting events.

Two offices, laundry rooms on each floor and a four-car garage add to the offerings.

Dana Olmes and Jeff Biebuyck of Compass share the listing.

Tutera, 59, is best known for the series’ “My Fair Wedding with David Tutera” and “David Tutera’s Celebrations.” As an event professional, he’s hosted events for celebrities like Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Vanessa Williams, Zendaya and Tommy Hilfiger.

​ Orange County Register 

These gas appliances — one of the largest sources of LA area’s smog — could be phased out

• June 4, 2025

Alejandra Reyes-Velarde  | Cal Matters

New household water heaters and heating systems powered by natural gas would be phased out in the Los Angeles basin under two controversial rules that air quality regulators will vote on Friday.

Manufacturers would sell increasing percentages of zero-emission heating appliances in the four-county Los Angeles basin — beginning with 30% in 2027 — and pay fees if they sell natural gas ones, under the draft rules.

Home appliances are among the largest sources of smog-causing gases remaining in the L.A. basin, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Officials there say the measures would eliminate the second largest amount of pollutants of any rule they have enacted over the past several decades.

Consumers won’t have to switch their appliances. However, when their natural gas water heaters, central heating systems and furnaces break down and it’s time to replace them, they can choose to buy zero-emission heat pumps powered by electricity.

Based on the lifetime of these appliances — 25 years for heating systems and 15 years for water heaters — about 200,000 furnaces and 300,000 water heaters will be replaced annually in the region, according to the air district.

The cost of buying and installing a heat pump to replace natural gas appliances varies, depending on what people need: Replacing an entire HVAC system with a heat pump would cost consumers about the same or even less than a natural gas system, according to the South Coast district’s estimate. But installing a heat pump instead of a natural gas water heater would cost $2,000 more, and replacing just a furnace would cost $8,000 more.

Contractors and developers oppose the phaseout, saying the fees paid by manufacturers will be passed on to residents, businesses and landlords.

“This money is not coming out of thin air,” said Brian Johsz, advocacy manager for the Los Angeles County Business Federation. “It’s a solution in search of a problem in a lot of ways. It’s just putting the financial burden on residents when we are already seeing they have such a hard time trying to make ends meet right now.”

SoCalGas officials say the rules would limit consumer choices and raise the cost of appliances. The company also said the measures would be preempted by federal law because they effectively ban appliances covered by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

“Over time, the public will be forced to pay hundreds of dollars more to replace their gas appliances,” wrote Kevin Barker, a senior manager for SoCal Gas’s energy and environmental policy, in a letter to the district. “It is not in the public interest, especially at a time when consumers are demanding affordable energy solutions, to raise upfront costs of the most affordable options.”

But air quality officials say that consumers will save money by switching to electric heaters. Between 2027 and 2061, residents in the four-county region will collectively save an annual average of between $191 million and $250 million on utility bill costs by switching from natural gas to electricity, according to the district’s estimate.

Under the proposed rules, manufacturers have two compliance options: They can sell all zero-emission units by 2027 or they can pay a fee for each gas appliance they continue to sell. The funds will be used to offer incentives to help low-income residents and landlords buy heat pumps.

Environmental groups say the air agency should move more quickly. The L.A. region still has the nation’s worst smog despite half a century of efforts, so it has a long way to go before its residents breathe air that meets federal health standards.

“There are still a lot of emission reductions that are being left on the table that will either have to be taken up with subsequent rules or are being foregone,” said Chris Chavez, deputy policy director with the Clean Air Coalition,

The air quality agency’s original plans, which were years in the making, would have guaranteed substantially more emissions reductions. The proposal would have required manufacturers to sell 100% zero-emission water heaters and furnaces by 2031. But after pushback from businesses and gas companies about affordability concerns, the air district amended it.

Under the current draft, the targets are 30% of water heaters and furnaces sold in 2027 would be zero-emissions, ramping up to 50% in 2029, 75% in 2033 and 90% in 2036. Manufacturers will have to pay fees between $500 and $50 for each natural gas one sold in the region.

The air district expects 90% of all water heaters and furnaces in the region will be zero emissions in 2061.

Chavez said the original version was projected to eliminate 10 tons per day, accounting for 18% of all the nitrogen oxide emissions in the basin. The proposal as written now reduces emissions by six tons per day.

Nihal Shrinath, an attorney for the Sierra Club, said “we’ve seen the Trump administration really waging a war on clean energy. And concurrently we have the South Coast (district) basically caving to gas lobbying efforts and really weakening a rule they have been working on for years.

“All the while, the air district is in extreme noncompliance with federal air quality standards and we’re the most polluted air basin in the country,” he said.

The South Coast district’s governing board will hold a public hearing and vote Friday on the measures, which update two emissions rules that the agency set in 1978 and 1982.

Billions of dollars in health savings

Gas appliances in the L.A. region — mostly water heaters and furnaces — emit more nitrogen oxides and fine particles into the air than power plants, refineries and oil and gas production combined, according to the non-partisan research group Rocky Mountain Institute.

The basin’s 10 million water heaters and furnaces emit almost 7 tons of nitrogen oxides and 1.5 tons of fine particles each day. In comparison, oil refineries — the region’s largest industrial polluters — emit less. Vehicles are the largest sources, emitting 11.5 tons of nitrogen oxides a day.

Nitrogen oxides react with other gases in the air and bake in the sun to form ozone, the main ingredient of smog, which causes asthma attacks and other health effects. The gases also pollute indoor air and can trigger respiratory effects. Fine particles can lodge in lungs and raise the risk of heart attacks and respiratory disease.

Between 2027 and 2053, the rules would save $59 billion in health expenses, according to the air district. Each year, the reduction in pollution would prevent an average of 280 new asthma diagnoses, 44 emergency room visits from respiratory problems and 6,100 lost school days, according to the district’s data. That doesn’t include health benefits calculated from the reduction in fine particles.

The Bay Area already has similar rules, enacted in 2023, that mandate zero-emission water heaters in 2027, furnaces in 2029 and large commercial water heaters in 2031. However, they are being amended to allow more flexibility for manufacturers to comply.

The region’s two largest cities, Los Angeles and Long Beach, have passed resolutions supporting the South Coast district’s rules, while Huntington Beach, Fullerton, Riverside, Rancho Palos Verdes and other conservative cities are opposed.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels fail to hold leads, lose slugfest to Red Sox

• June 4, 2025

BOSTON — The Angels’ pitching and defense let them down, keeping them from a sweep at Fenway Park.

After scoring four runs before they made an out, the Angels lost, 11-9, to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon.

Starter José Soriano, who was staked to a four-run lead before he threw a pitch, gave up five runs in the first and seven overall.

The Angels (28-33) still had one-run leads in seventh and eighth innings, but errors by right fielder Matthew Lugo and third baseman Kevin Newman led to unearned runs that tied the score twice.

“We were playing a real good game to that point,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “And then we just made some mistakes, and it ended up costing us.”

Left-hander Brock Burke, who was pitching for the third time in four days, gave up a two-run homer to Ceddanne Rafaela with one out in the ninth. The ball barely cleared the fence, 308 feet from home, inside the right-field pole.

“That’s why they call it Pesky Pole,” Washington said. “That was very pesky. He hit that perfect. That’s the way baseball goes.”

Up until that moment, the Angels had their eyes on their first sweep at Fenway Park since 2014. Nine runs should have been enough to accomplish that. The Red Sox, however, didn’t go down easily.

“It’s always tough when you score that amount of runs and don’t win the game,” Washington said. “But we didn’t do much to stop them, like they didn’t do much to stop us. Sori just didn’t have it today. He stood out there and fought, threw 100 pitches in less than four innings. They worked him, and he just couldn’t find his command.”

The Angels rode their bullpen hard in winning the first two games of the series, using five relievers each day. As the game started on Wednesday, their perfect blueprint was to score early and often, get Soriano through six or seven innings, and then let Sam Aldegheri finish with a comfortable lead.

Aldegheri, who was just called up Monday to provide some length in the bullpen, was the only reliever who hadn’t worked in the first two games of the series.

The hitters did their part, but Soriano didn’t do his.

The Angels scored four runs before they even made an out, three of them on Taylor Ward’s 17th homer of the season.

In the bottom of the first, though, Soriano gave up five runs. He allowed the first six hitters of the game to reach base, including two walks. He needed 38 pitches to get three outs.

“A tough day,” Soriano said through an interpreter. “It’s one of those days. I couldn’t control it. It was tough.”

Because of the state of the bullpen, the Angels pushed Soriano. He got them two outs into the fourth, on 99 pitches, and he left in a 7-7 game.

Both teams’ bats cooled off once the bullpens entered.

The Angels took the lead on Logan O’Hoppe’s single off of the Green Monster in the fifth, and the Red Sox got the run back with an unearned run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Lugo misplayed a ball that dropped in front of him, allowing the runner to get to third.

Chris Taylor doubled and scored on a Newman single to put the Angels back on top, 9-8, in the eighth.

Moments later, Newman made an error that opened the door for another unearned run, tying the score.

Both of the unearned runs were charged to Aldegheri, who worked 2⅓ innings in his first major-league game this season.

“I thought he was outstanding,” Washington said. “He gave us (49) pitches. Did a good job. We make that play there in eighth inning, and I think we get off that field without them scoring.”

They didn’t, and then Burke gave up the walk-off homer, sending the Angels to a loss.

The consolation was a big day from the offense. The Angels had 12 hits, including one from everyone in the starting lineup except for Jo Adell. Zach Neto had a double and a triple. Nolan Schanuel had two doubles and two RBIs. Ward drove in four runs, including a sacrifice fly.

Mike Trout had a single and two walks. Trout has at least one hit in all six games he’s played since coming off the injured list. He’s 10 for 21 since returning.

“If we keep swinging the bats like that and putting runs on the board,” Washington said, “everything’s gonna work out.”

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: For kicker Lucas Havrisik, is spring season a springboard?

• June 4, 2025

If he had it to do over again – and ideally, he’ll get that second chance somewhere – kicker Lucas Havrisik would have approached the job a little differently during his brief tenure with the Rams in 2023.

“I was so focused only on the NFL and performing … I didn’t have much balance in my life,” he said this week. “And that way didn’t really work, because obviously I gave everything I could, but it’s almost like I was too focused on it, you know?”

Those nine games in 2023 are, to date, Havrisik’s only opportunities as an NFL kicker. He has been on the practice squads of the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns, and he spent this past spring kicking for the Arlington (Tex.) Renegades of the United Football League, the two-year-old mashup of the second versions of the XFL and USFL.

Kicking in that league is a little different, since there are no extra-point attempts; all conversions are scrimmage plays. Havrisik, 25, who attended Norco High and the University of Arizona, made 22 of the 25 field goals he attempted for the Renegades (5-5) this season, including a 54-yard attempt, and had none blocked. His kickoffs were returned 19.5 yards on average.

“It’s one of the best seasons I ever had,” Havrisik said in a phone conversation this week. “I enjoyed playing in this league, with Antonio Ortiz and (punter) Marquette King as my snapper and holder,” he said. “I think I did really well. The ones I missed were some dumb misses.”

The UFL is not the ultimate destination, obviously. The goal, for Havrisik and for anyone else in that league, is to get back to playing in the fall, on the big stage.

And his position, with all its importance, is also the most unstable as well as the easiest target for blame when things go awry. There are 32 NFL kickers at any given time and hordes of others waiting and hoping for an opportunity.

As Havrisik put it, “It’s not fun, especially in the NFL, if you miss a kick and you see four kickers the next day working out on your off day. You’re like, ‘Oh, man.’”

No wonder there’s undue stress that comes with this position. Where else is your job in jeopardy the moment you miss?

Havrisik took up football as a freshman at Norco High, a soccer player who thought he might have a future in that sport but was diverted because of his strong leg.

“I had a couple friends my freshman year of high school say we needed a kicker because they saw me kick a soccer ball really hard,” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘All right, I’ll go try it. I don’t care. I like sports. I’ll do whatever. … I had no idea what to compare myself to, (and) everyone was like, ‘Dude, you’ve got a great leg.’”

As a senior placekicker and punter at Norco, he was team MVP and the Big VIII League special teams player of the year. He set school records for longest field goal (51), most field goals in a season and most touchbacks, and also played soccer and volleyball at Norco. He set Arizona’s record for longest field goal (57), as well, and was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection in 2020 and ’21.

And then he got on the NFL kickers’ hamster wheel.

He was signed to the Colts’ practice squad in September o2022 and released a week later. Cleveland signed him to the practice squad in September 2023, and the Rams plucked him for their actual roster that October when they released Brett Maher.

In those nine games – to date, the only NFL games in which he has kicked – Havrisik made 15 of 20 field-goal attempts, though just 4 of 9 from 40 yards or more. The highlight: a game-winning 22-yarder with 1:31 left in a 17-16 victory over Seattle at SoFi Stadium, in the immediate aftermath of which he said he was so focused on his task that when he was called, he thought the Rams had scored a touchdown and he was kicking a PAT rather than a field goal.

He also noted, when asked about kicking in SoFi Stadium, that kicking in high school before friends, family and neighbors was more nerve-racking. At SoFi, he said then, “it’s just a bunch of random people in the stands and, you know, it’s just an atmosphere. Like you can’t really let any outside conditions affect your game.”

Still, he hadn’t completely entered Rams coach Sean McVay’s circle of trust. And after missed two extra points in a 26-25 victory over the New York Giants in the Meadowlands on the next-to-last weekend of the season, the Rams released him and brought back Maher.

After the Rams let him go, the Browns signed Havrisik in January 2024, released him in May, re-signed him a week later, waived him in June, re-signed him in August and waived him again three days later. Buffalo signed him to its practice squad Oct. 17, largely as a warning to incumbent kicker Tyler Bass, and then released Havrisik on Oct. 31.

Through it all, Havrisik and his agent, Tom Mills, have remained undaunted. The UFL season ended last weekend, and now they’ll pursue another shot in someone’s training camp.

And if Havrisik gets another shot, he says he’ll continue the more balanced approach that he practiced in the UFL, focusing when necessary but letting other things into his life as well. It has helped his performance, and also his sanity.

“Kicking will drive you nuts if you only focus on kicking,” he said.

jalexander@scng.com

​ Orange County Register