Law Enforcement Torch Run takes to LA-area streets to support Special Olympics

• June 4, 2025

Each year, the Law Enforcement Torch Run takes to the streets of Southern California to raise awareness and money for the Special Olympics as the annual Summer Games approach in Long Beach.

All this week, first responders have been running, Special Olympics torch in hand, to support the program that does so much for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

On Monday and Tuesday, the torch made its way through parts of Los Angeles, San Pedro, Lomita, Palos Verdes, the Beach Cities, LAX, Culver City and other communities.

Also see: More than 1,300 athletes will compete in Southern California Special Olympics this weekend

On Wednesday, in San Fernando, the city’s police officers and city employees as well as Los Angeles School Police, Department of Motor Vehicles investigators and California Department of Alcoholic Beverages agents, took their turns, carrying the “Flame of Hope” Torch through the region.

Also running Wednesday were officers in North Hollywood and Burbank.

On Thursday, the run continues through Hollywood and West Los Angeles.

On Friday, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officers based in Compton will be among the runners carrying the torch.  And as the run concludes, Long Beach police officers will take charge of the flame, carrying it to the its final stop — the Walter Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach, where the Special Olympics Summer Games will launch on Friday.

Through Sunday, hundreds of Special Olympians will compete in basketball, track and field, bocce, flag football, swimming and other sports. And hundreds of volunteers will also be on hand to support the athletes during the event.

​ Orange County Register 

The Sisters of St. Joseph’s Motherhouse is now affordable housing for many

• June 4, 2025

Almost 15 years ago, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, the order reflected on ways to partner with others to serve those members of the community who were most in need.

In Orange County, the need they saw centered around the homeless community, where 30% of the unhoused population is over the age of 55.

In line with their mission to “adapt to the needs of the time and offer a compassionate presence to the people they serve,” the Sisters gave their own home to house others. They partnered with Mercy Housing, county agencies and other groups to transform the order’s Motherhouse, built in 1958, into an affordable housing community for low-income seniors.

The new community is aptly named Villa St. Joseph, and its completion was celebrated this week with a dedication in the courtyard adjacent to the repurposed Motherhouse. The apartments are now part of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s larger 11-acre campus next to Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.

The three-story 50-unit community features 43 one-bedroom units, six studios and one two-bedroom unit.

Residents will have access to support services, adult education and health and wellness programs.

“We know, don’t we, that at this time in history the need for affordable housing is paramount, and we can think of no better way to help than to share what we have, and what we no longer need, with others,” said Sister Mary Beth Ingham, general superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. “We sisters have loved this building, our former Motherhouse. It holds rich memories for many of us who walked through these doors to begin our religious life. Throughout our history here in Orange, our loving God has blessed us and St. Joseph continues to inspire us to be generous with everything we have.”

The building had stopped being used as a permanent residence for the sisters in 2015.

The $38 million renovation was funded through public-private partnerships, including $16.3 million from UnitedHealth Group, $6.1 million from Orange County, $5.6 million from the state, and $5.7 million from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.

“I got very humbled because I’m a product of everyone sitting here right now,” Richard Protheroe, a Villa St. Joseph resident who was formerly homeless, told those gathered at the dedication. “Those that donated the money, all those that contribute to getting me housed, I’m a product of all the hard work you guys have done.”

As the operator of Villa St. Joseph, Mercy Housing is partnering with the OC Health Care Agency to provide the formerly homeless residents with a variety of services, including crisis intervention, case management and substance abuse services.

“We take care of some of the most vulnerable people,” said Ian Kemmer, behavioral health director of the OC Health Care Agency. “Folks who are struggling with mental health conditions and substance use conditions. That first year really is critical as our tenants adjust to their new homes.”

Resident Michael Arambula, 66, grew up and attended elementary school in Orange.

As a landscape architect, Arambula said he traveled around the county for work and lived in Utah for 17 years before a medical condition brought him back to Orange County.

Arambula wound up homeless for three months, sleeping in his car and in shelters until his caseworker introduced him to Villa St. Joseph.

“We went up to the third floor to a studio and she said, ‘Would you like to live here?’” said Arambula. “I said yeah. And I tried and I’m here. It’s perfect.”

​ Orange County Register 

Jury deliberations near in Weinstein sex crimes retrial

• June 4, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s sex crimes retrial are due to start deliberating Thursday, with dozens of witnesses, scores of documents and two days of closing arguments to sift through.

The seven-woman, five-man jury will start its private discussions after getting legal instructions from the judge Thursday morning.

Closing arguments concluded Wednesday, with prosecutor Nicole Blumberg saying the former movie studio boss “held the golden ticket” to show-business success and used it to sexually assault women who were afraid to cross him.

Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty to raping a woman in 2013 and forcing oral sex on two others in 2006. Defense lawyer Arthur Aidala told jurors Tuesday that Weinstein had entirely consensual encounters with the women, arguing that they were “using him” to advance their fledgling careers in entertainment.

Over the last seven years, the case has been seen as something of a crucible for the #MeToo movement. The anti-sexual-misconduct outcry took flight after allegations against Weinstein became public in 2017.

He was later convicted of sex crimes in New York and California. The New York conviction was overturned last year, and the case was sent back for retrial.

The new trial was expanded to include an accuser who wasn’t part of the first trial. One of the criminal sex act charges is based on her allegations.

Weinstein chose not to testify.

​ Orange County Register 

Judge says migrants sent to El Salvador prison must get a chance to challenge their removals

• June 4, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration must give migrants sent to an El Salvador prison a chance to challenge their removals.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg said that people who were sent to the prison in March under an 18th-century wartime law haven’t been able to formally contest the removals or allegations that they are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. He ordered the administration to work toward giving them a way to file those challenges.

The ruling is the latest milestone in a monthslong legal saga over the fate of deportees imprisoned at El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center.

​ Orange County Register 

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

• June 4, 2025

A tentative settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by a late Los Feliz man who said he was wrongfully fired as a mail center messenger at the Walt Disney Co. because he was more than 50 years old and of Armenian heritage.

Khatchatur Berberian also maintained management did nothing when he complained he was harassed by a supervisor. Berberian sued in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2023, but he died of cardiac arrest at age 53 on Dec. 12, 2024. In February, Judge Kerry Besinger approved a request to appoint Anterine Jackson as Berberian’s successor in interest, as well as Jackson’s substitution in the case as the plaintiff.

Jackson is the executor of the Berberian estate and the personal representative of the Berberian trust. On Monday, Jackson’s attorneys filed court papers with Bensinger notifying him of a “conditional” resolution of the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be brought by Sept. 30.

No terms were revealed.

In their previous court papers, Disney attorneys denied Berberian’s allegations and cited multiple defenses, including violation of the statute of limitations and that any actions management took regarding Berberian were for “legitimate non-discriminatory and/or non-retaliatory reasons.”

According to his suit, Berberian was hired in October 1998 and enjoyed his work until 2014, when a new supervisor engaged in a physical altercation with him at the same time Berberian learned he had heart disease. Berberian tried at several management levels to get his complaint against the supervisor addressed, but received no cooperation and the boss’ alleged mistreatment of him continued, the suit further alleged.

At least twice in January and March 2020, the supervisor followed Berberian in an intimidating manner while he completed his mail runs, making Berberian feel as though the boss was targeting him due to his complaints about him, according to his suit, which further alleged that the boss falsely told employee relations that the plaintiff was the one threatening him.

Another supervisor made fun of Berberian because of the plaintiff’s Armenian heritage, saying Armenians who live in Glendale are hairy and speak with an accent, the suit further alleged.

Berber was furloughed in 2020-21 due to the coronavirus and terminated in September 2021 after management told him his position had been eliminated even though younger co-workers who did the same work did not lose their jobs, according to the suit.

​ Orange County Register 

Irvine’s secret contract grounds gondola fantasy

• June 4, 2025

In a column celebrating Orange County voters’ approval of a park at the site of the decommissioned El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in 2002, then and current Mayor Larry Agran said it was time to “begin planning and creating the magnificent park that was envisioned by Measure W—an Orange County Great Park twice the size and every bit as beautiful as San Diego’s Balboa Park.”

That was 23 years ago and, as this Editorial Board predicted, there’s nothing that lives up to the hype let alone match Balboa Park. Sure, some of the private developments are nice (albeit typical), but the public-park portion has been mired in problems and delay. One of three critical grand jury reports blasts Irvine for “serious mismanagement.”

The park plan was never anything more than window dressing for an “anything but an international airport” plan. Instead of building a nice regional park in a transparent and cost-effective way, Irvine officials continue to believe their own grandiose rhetoric. The latest example is a plan to build, as the Register reported, a “futuristic gondola-like system” based on technology that’s “yet to be deployed anywhere in the world.”

The concept itself is absurd, given the modest park features. Typically, monorails and the like become a reasonable option when an attraction is overflowing with tourists. The project would cost the city $75 million in vehicles and infrastructure—and fancy transit systems always end up costing more than predicted. The park already has a silly orange balloon ride.

Adding to the outrage, the Register reported that over the last year the city staff signed four contracts with the startup that provides these automated systems without going to the board and making it public. “For $715,000, I would have spent it on something else,” said Vice Mayor James Mai. “These slides are basically AI.”

The staff said it followed procurement guidelines. If that’s the case, Irvine needs new guidelines.

But, mainly, the city needs a more realistic and taxpayer-friendly vision for the park—one that focuses on attainable objectives rather than costly fantasies.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump promised to welcome more foreign students. Now, they feel targeted on all fronts

• June 4, 2025

By JOCELYN GECKER, AP Education Writer

To attract the brightest minds to America, President Donald Trump proposed a novel idea while campaigning: If elected, he would grant green cards to all foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges.

“It’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools,” Trump said during a podcast interview last June. “That is going to end on Day One.”

That promise never came to pass. Trump’s stance on welcoming foreign students has shifted dramatically. International students have found themselves at the center of an escalating campaign to kick them out or keep them from coming as his administration merges a crackdown on immigration with an effort to reshape higher education.

An avalanche of policies from the Trump administration — such as terminating students’ ability to study in the U.S., halting all new student visa interviews, moving to block foreign enrollment at Harvard — have triggered lawsuits, countersuits and confusion for international students who say they feel targeted on multiple fronts.

In interviews, students from around the world described how it feels to be an international student today in America. Their accounts highlight pervasive feelings of fear, anxiety and insecurity that have made them more cautious in their daily lives, distracted them from schoolwork and prompted many to cancel trips home because they fear not being allowed to return.

For many, the last few months have forced them to rethink their dreams of building a life in America.

A standout student from Latvia feels ‘expendable’

Markuss Saule, a freshman at Brigham Young University-Idaho, took a recent trip home to Latvia and spent the entire flight back to the U.S. in a state of panic.

For hours, he scrubbed his phone, uninstalling all social media, deleting anything that touched on politics or could be construed as anti-Trump.

“That whole 10-hour flight, where I was debating, ‘Will they let me in?’ — it definitely killed me a little bit,” said Saule, a business analytics major. “It was terrifying.”

Saule is the type of international student the U.S. has coveted. As a high schooler in Latvia, he qualified for a competitive, merit-based exchange program funded by the U.S. State Department. He spent a year of high school in Minnesota, falling in love with America and a classmate who is now his fiancee. He just ended his freshman year in college with a 4.0 GPA.

But the alarm he felt on that flight crushed what was left of his American dream.

“If you had asked me at the end of 2024 what my plans were, it was to get married, find a great job here in the U.S. and start a family,” said Saule, who hopes to work as a business data analyst. “Those plans are not applicable anymore. Ask me now, and the plan to leave this place as soon as possible.”

Saule and his fiancee plan to marry this summer, graduate a year early and move to Europe.

This spring the Trump administration abruptly revoked permission to study in the U.S. for thousands of international students before reversing itself. A federal judge has blocked further status terminations, but for many, the damage is done. Saule has a constant fear he could be next.

As a student in Minnesota just three years ago, he felt like a proud ambassador for his country.

“Now I feel a sense of inferiority. I feel that I am expendable, that I am purely an appendage that is maybe getting cut off soon,” he said. Trump’s policies carry a clear subtext. “The policies, what they tell me is simple. It is one word: Leave.”

From dreaming of working at NASA to ‘doomscrolling’ job listings in India

A concern for attracting the world’s top students was raised in the interview Trump gave last June on the podcast “All-In.” Can you promise, Trump was asked, to give companies more ability “to import the best and brightest” students?

“I do promise,” Trump answered. Green cards, he said, would be handed out with diplomas to any foreign student who gets a college or graduate degree.

Trump said he knew stories of “brilliant” graduates who wanted to stay in the U.S. to work but couldn’t. “They go back to India, they go back to China” and become multi-billionaires, employing thousands of people. “That is going to end on Day One.”

Had Trump followed through with that pledge, a 24-year-old Indian physics major named Avi would not be afraid of losing everything he has worked toward.

After six years in Arizona, where Avi attended college and is now working as an engineer, the U.S. feels like a second home. He dreams of working at NASA or in a national lab and staying in America where he has several relatives.

But now he is too afraid to fly to Chicago to see them, rattled by news of foreigners being harassed at immigration centers and airports.

“Do I risk seeing my family or risk deportation?” said Avi, who asked to be identified by his first name, fearing retribution.

Avi is one of about 240,000 people on student visas in the U.S. on Optional Practical Training — a postgraduation period where students are authorized to work in fields related to their degrees for up to three years. A key Trump nominee has said he would like to see an end to postgraduate work authorization for international students.

Avi’s visa is valid until next year but he feels “a massive amount of uncertainty.”

He wonders if he can sign a lease on a new apartment. Even his daily commute feels different.

“I drive to work every morning, 10 miles an hour under speed limit to avoid getting pulled over,” said Avi, who hopes to stay in the U.S. but is casting a wider net. “I spend a lot of time doomscrolling job listings in India and other places.”

A Ukrainian chose college in America over joining the fight at home — for now

Vladyslav Plyaka came to the U.S. from Ukraine as an exchange student in high school. As war broke out at home, he stayed to attend the University of Wisconsin.

He was planning to visit Poland to see his mother but if he leaves the U.S., he would need to reapply for a visa. He doesn’t know when that will be possible now that visa appointments are suspended, and he doesn’t feel safe leaving the country anyway.

He feels grateful for the education, but without renewing his visa, he’ll be stuck in the U.S. at least two more years while he finishes his degree. He sometimes wonders if he would be willing to risk leaving his education in the United States — something he worked for years to achieve — if something happened to his family.

“It’s hard because every day I have to think about my family, if everything is going to be all right,” he said.

It took him three tries to win a scholarship to study in the U.S. Having that cut short because of visa problems would undermine the sacrifice he made to be here. He sometimes feels guilty that he isn’t at home fighting for his country, but he knows there’s value in gaining an education in America.

“I decided to stay here just because of how good the college education is,” he said. “If it was not good, I probably would be on the front lines.”

AP Education Writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.

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 

Earl of Sandwich announces closure at Downtown Disney, lays off 167 employees

• June 4, 2025

Earl of Sandwich will close its temporary location at Downtown Disney and lay off the restaurant staff to make way for a new Porto’s Bakery as construction continues on a permanent home for the nomadic sandwich shop at the Disneyland resort.

The Earl of Sandwich Tavern restaurant in Downtown Disney plans to lay off 167 employees and permanently close its temporary location in the former La Brea Bakery at the Anaheim outdoor shopping mall next to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

ALSO SEE: First look at Earl of Sandwich rooftop bar coming to Downtown Disney

The layoffs were announced in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter sent to state employment officials on May 29.

Layoffs will start on July 28 and end by Aug. 10, according to the WARN Act letter.

The Earl of Sandwich temporary pop-up trailer installed in 2024 on the west end of Downtown Disney next to the Star Wars Trading Post continues to operate, according to the Earl of Sandwich website.

A new two-story Earl of Sandwich location under construction near the Downtown Disney performance lawn will include a quick service walk-up counter, sit-down Earl of Sandwich Tavern restaurant and an upstairs cocktail bar.

The original Earl of Sandwich restaurant was torn down in 2022 along with AMC Theatre, Starbucks West and Sugarboo and Co. as part of the renovation of the west end of Downtown Disney.

Earl of Sandwich moved into the former La Brea Bakery when plans for Porto’s Bakery to take over the location were delayed.

Porto’s Bakery & Cafe officials have announced construction will begin in 2025 on its newest location at Downtown Disney.

ALSO SEE: First look at Porto’s restaurant and bar coming to Downtown Disney

Porto’s decision to open a Downtown Disney location on the site of the former La Brea Bakery was announced to much fanfare during the D23 Expo in 2022 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

La Brea Bakery closed in early 2023 to make way for the new Porto’s – but construction never started as expected.

​ Orange County Register