Italian chain favorite Piatti to open first Orange County location

• March 10, 2025

Moving into the former Cabana space on Ocean Avenue, Piatti, a small, California-based Italian restaurant with eight locations, will open its first Orange County eatery in Laguna Beach.

Piatti opened its first restaurant in 1987 in Yountville, with locations to follow in Danville, Mill Valley, Sacramento, Seattle, and two in San Antonio, Texas.

Menu highlights will include beef carpaccio and whipped burrata di Stefano, salads, soups, pizzas, pasta dishes like the spinach and ricotta tortellini and rigatoni bolognese, and heartier entrees like eggplant parmesan, sea bass, chicken mattone puttanesca and dry-aged New York steak. Desserts will include such red-joint staples as tiramisu to buttermilk panna cotta and flourless chocolate torte.

Guests can also look forward to an Italy-forward wine list, amaro cocktails, mocktails and more.

ALSO READ: Palette Dim Sum coming to Tustin Market Place

The restaurant will accommodate up to 126 diners, including, as its name suggests (piatti is plural for “patio”), plenty of outdoor seating.

“Piatti was founded in California three decades ago and we are thrilled to expand our Southern California footprint with the opening of our newest Italian eatery only steps from the sand in Laguna Beach,” said Tim Harmon, CEO of Palisades Hospitality Group, which owns Piatti. “As a neighborhood trattoria designed to bring people together, we feel Piatti will be perfectly at home in Laguna Beach with its charm and deep sense of community.”

Piatti will be open for lunch and dinner. While a formal date has yet to be announced, Harmon noted that he hopes to open “this spring.”

​ Orange County Register 

Rams sign DL Poona Ford to three-year deal

• March 10, 2025

The Rams made a move to reinforce their defensive front, signing former Chargers defensive lineman Poona Ford to a three-year deal, a source confirmed Monday.

Ford, 29, is entering his eighth season and will be playing with his fourth team. He spent the first five years of his career with Seattle before trudging through an injury-plagued year with Buffalo in 2023.

But the 5-foot-11, 310-pound Ford had a resurgence with the Chargers in 2024. He matched his career highs with 8.5 run stuffs and three sacks.

With tackles Bobby Brown III and Neville Gallimore entering free agency, the Rams needed a new run stopper to shore up the defensive line. Ford provides a veteran presence on the inside next to defensive captain Kobie Turner and second-year tackle Tyles Davis.

​ Orange County Register 

Less distraction, more rebuilding: Sen. Wiener’s Senate Bill 222 is a waste of time

• March 10, 2025

As Los Angeles burned in early January, my heart broke for the thousands of Angelenos who lost their homes and their most cherished possessions.

After processing the shock of the natural disaster, I wondered how we were ever going to rebuild with potentially tens of billions of dollars in damage to our communities. 

Thankfully, state and federal leaders immediately committed to the rebuilding effort, with Gov. Gavin Newsom himself on the ground in Los Angeles for what seemed like weeks. With state and federal partners working together, and with the governor securing $2.5 billion in upfront funding for relief efforts, Angelenos saw a glimmer of hope that rebuilding would be put ahead of petty politics. 

Unfortunately, instead of staying focused on relief, rebuilding and mitigation, some in the Legislature are attempting to use wildfire victims to make a political statement. We should have realized that a disaster the size and scope of the LA wildfires would bring out the worst ideas from some of our legislators.  

State Sen. Scott Wiener represents San Francisco in the Legislature (a 386-mile drive from the Pacific Palisades and a 383-mile drive from Altadena). Sen. Wiener seems to embody the old saying, “To a person with only a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

Sen. Wiener’s crazy proposal, Senate Bill 222, would allow Californians to sue energy companies for any and all weather-related disasters, including wildfires and earthquakes, without having to prove any causation between the energy company and the disaster.  This is a ridiculous overstep that could have serious consequences for all California consumers and the environment.

Legally, Weiner’s entire concept is on shaky ground. Since the bill applies retroactively – all the way back to 1965 – it would be destined for serious legal challenges. A lawsuit challenging this bill would tie up even more state resources when we need to be focused on relief, rebuilding, and mitigation. 

However, the legal issues – and the costs associated with defending an unconstitutional bill – are only the beginning of SB 222’s problems.

When our state needs to be focused on keeping costs low for victims, Sen. Wiener’s bill would significantly increase the cost of living for all Californians. According to a recent independent economic analysis of SB 222, gasoline could jump to $7.38 per gallon, an increase of 63%, while electricity rates could go up by 55%. Overall, consumers could see their average annual expenses increase by $6,200.

San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener’s legislation in response to the LA wildfires is pure political posturing, and an unnecessary distraction from the major issues related to January’s fires. Using one of the worst disasters in our state’s history to score political points while increasing costs across the state is opportunistic at best.  At worst, it’s a callous, insensitive approach that does nothing to help rebuild our communities. 

Instead of using our community’s grief to advance Sen. Weiner’s San Francisco agenda, the Legislature should be focused on recovery, relief, and mitigation. The victims of this tragedy are not nails that need to be hammered. 

Senator Wiener must shelve SB 222 – let’s rebuild LA without distractions, and without delay.

Peter Kwong is a Los Angeles businessman and a director of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is a former Chairman of the Board for Best Western International Hotels and a former Vice President of the Los Angeles Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

​ Orange County Register 

Stock sell-off worsens as Wall Street wonders how much pain Trump will accept for the economy

• March 10, 2025

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market’s sell-off is worsening Monday as Wall Street questions how much pain President Donald Trump is willing for the economy to endure in order to get what he wants.

The S&P 500 was down 2.1% in midday trading, coming off its worst week since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 405 points, or 0.9%, as of 11:20 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 3.6% lower.

The main measure of the U.S. stock market is on track for a seventh swing of more than 1%, up or down, in the last eight days following a scary stretch dominated by Trump’s on -and- off -again tariffs. The worry is that the whipsaw moves will either hurt the economy directly or create enough uncertainty to drive U.S. companies and consumers into an economy-freezing paralysis. The S&P 500 is down 8% from its all-time high set on Feb. 19.

The economy has already given some signals of weakening, mostly through surveys showing increased pessimism. And a widely followed collection of real-time indicators compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests the U.S. economy may already be shrinking.

Asked over the weekend whether he was expecting a recession in 2025, Trump told Fox News Channel: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing.” He then added, “It takes a little time. It takes a little time.”

Trump says he wants to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, among other reasons he’s given for tariffs. His Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has also said the economy may go through a “detox” period as it weans itself off an addiction to spending by the government.

The U.S. job market is still showing stable hiring at the moment, to be sure, and the economy ended last year running at a solid rate. But economists are marking down their forecasts for how the economy will perform this year.

At Goldman Sachs, for example, David Mericle cut his estimate for U.S. economic growth to 1.7% from 2.2% for the end of 2025 over the year before, largely because tariffs look like they’ll be bigger than he was previously forecasting.

He sees a one-in-five chance of a recession over the next year, raising it only slightly because “the White House has the option to pull back policy changes” if the risks to the economy “begin to look more serious.”

“There are always multiple forces at work in the market, but right now, almost all of them are taking a back seat to tariffs,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

The worries hitting Wall Street have so far been hurting some of its biggest stars the most. Big Tech stocks and companies that rode the artificial-intelligence frenzy in recent years have slumped sharply.

Nvidia fell another 4.9% Monday to bring its loss for the year so far to 20.2%. It’s a steep drop-off from its nearly 820% surge over 2023 and 2024.

Elon Musk’s Tesla fell 8.7% to deepen its loss for 2025 to more than 40%. After getting an initial post-election bump on hopes that Musk’s close relationship with Trump would help the electric-vehicle company, the stock has since slumped on worries that its brand has become intertwined with Musk. Protests against the U.S. government’s efforts to cull its workforce and other moves have targeted Tesla dealerships, for example.

Stocks of companies that depend on U.S. households feeling good enough about their finances to spend also tumbled sharply. United Airlines lost 8.3%, and cruise-ship operator Carnival fell 8.2%.

It’s not just stocks struggling. Investors are sending prices lower for all kinds of investments whose momentum had earlier seemed nearly impossible to stop at times, such as bitcoin. The cryptocurrency’s value has dropped back toward $80,000 from more than $106,000 in December.

Instead, investors have been herding into U.S. Treasury bonds as they look for things whose prices can hold up better when the economy is under pressure. That has sent prices for Treasurys sharply higher, which in turn has sent down their yields.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury tumbled again to 4.21% from 4.32% late Friday. It’s been dropping since January, when it was approaching 4.80%, as worries about the economy have grown. That’s a major move for the bond market.

All the uncertainty, though, hasn’t shut down dealmaking on Wall Street. Redfin’s stock jumped 68.1% after Rocket said it would buy the digital real estate brokerage in an all-stock deal valuing it at $1.75 billion. Rocket’s stock sank 14.9%.

ServiceNow fell 6.3% after the AI platform company said it was buying AI-assistant maker Moveworks for $2.85 billion in cash and stock.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes largely fell following a mixed session in Asia.

Indexes fell 1.8% in Hong Kong and 0.2% in Shanghai after China said consumer prices fell in February for the first time in 13 months. It’s the latest signal of weakness for the world’s second-largest economy, as persistent weak demand was compounded by the early timing of the Lunar New Year holiday.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

​ Orange County Register 

Supreme Court will take up state bans on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children, in a Colorado case

• March 10, 2025

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Monday in a case from Colorado to decide whether state and local governments can enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children.

The conservative-led court is taking up the case amid actions by President Donald Trump targeting transgender people, including a ban on military service and an end to federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The justices also have heard arguments in a Tennessee case over whether state bans on treating transgender minors violate the Constitution. But they have yet to issue a decision.

Colorado is among roughly half the states that prohibit the practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling.

The issue is whether the law violates the speech rights of counselors. Defenders of such laws argue that they regulate the conduct of professionals who are licensed by the state.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the state law. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has struck down local local bans in Florida.

In 2023, the court had turned away a similar challenge, despite a split among federal appeals courts that had weighed state bans and come to differing decisions.

At the time, three justices, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, said they would have taken on the issue. It takes four justices to grant review. The nine-member court does not typically reveal how justices vote at this stage of a case so it’s unclear who might have provided the fourth vote.

The case will be argued in the court’s new term, which begins in October. The appeal on behalf of Kaley Chiles, a counselor in Colorado Springs, was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal organization that has appeared frequently at the court in recent years in cases involving high-profile social issues.

One of those cases was a 5-4 decision in 2018 in which the justices ruled that California could not force state-licensed anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion.

Chiles’ lawyers leaned heavily on that decision in asking the court to take up her case. They wrote that Chiles doesn’t “seek to ‘cure’ clients of same-sex attractions or to ‘change’ clients’ sexual orientation.”

In arguing for the court to reject the appeal, lawyers for Colorado wrote that lawmakers acted to regulate professional conduct, “based on overwhelming evidence that efforts to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity are unsafe and ineffective.”

​ Orange County Register 

Lawmaker says all 37 crew aboard 2 ships that collided are accounted for

• March 10, 2025

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A cargo ship hit a tanker carrying jet fuel off the coast of eastern England Monday, setting both vessels on fire and triggering a major rescue operation, emergency services said.

Local lawmaker, Graham Stuart, said he had been told by the transport secretary that 37 crew members were aboard the two ships, and one was hospitalized.

“The other 36 mariners across both crews are safe and accounted for,” he said.

The U.S.-flagged chemical and oil products tanker MV Stena Immaculate was at anchor near the port of Grimsby Monday morning after sailing from Greece, according to ship-tracking site VesselFinder. The cargo vessel, Portugal-flagged container ship Solong, was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

U.S.-based maritime management firm Crowley, which operates the Stena Immaculate, said the tanker “sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel,” when the container ship struck it, triggering a fire and “multiple explosions onboard,” with fuel released into the sea.

It said all 23 of the mariners on the tanker were safe and accounted for.

The Stena Immaculate is part of the U.S. government’s Tanker Security Program, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed.

Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said 13 casualties were brought in on a Windcat 33 high-speed vessel, followed by another 19 on a harbor pilot boat.

Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said several lifeboats and a coast guard rescue helicopter were dispatched to the scene along with a coast guard plane.

The site of the collision is off the coast near Hull, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) north of London.

Coast guards said the alarm was raised at 9:48 a.m. (0948 GMT). Humber Coast Guard made a radio broadcast asking vessels with firefighting equipment and those who could help with search and rescue to head to the scene.

The RNLI lifeboat agency said “there were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships.” It said three lifeboats were working on search and rescue at the scene alongside the coast guard.

Video footage aired by the BBC and apparently filmed from a nearby vessel showed thick black smoke pouring from both ships.

Boyers, the port chief, said he had been told there was “a massive fireball.”

“It’s too far out for us to see – about 10 miles – but we have seen the vessels bringing them in,” he said. “They must have sent a mayday out. Luckily there was a crew transfer vessel out there already. Since then, there has been a flotilla of ambulances to pick up anyone they can find.”

U.K. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was being kept up to date on the developing situation

“I want to thank all emergency service workers involved for their continued efforts in responding to the incident,” she said.

​ Orange County Register 

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