Edmund White, a groundbreaking gay author, dies at 85

• June 4, 2025

By HILLEL ITALIE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Edmund White, the groundbreaking man of letters who documented and imagined the gay revolution through journalism, essays, plays and such novels as “A Boy’s Own Story” and “The Beautiful Room is Empty,” has died. He was 85.

White’s death was confirmed Wednesday by his agent, Bill Clegg.

Along with Larry Kramer, Armistead Maupin and others, White was among a generation of gay writers who in the 1970s became bards for a community no longer afraid to declare its existence. He was present at the Stonewall raids of 1969, when arrests at a club in Greenwich Village led to the birth of the modern gay movement and for decades was a participant and observer through the tragedy of AIDS, the advance of gay rights and culture and the recent backlash.

A resident of New York and Paris for much of his adult life, he was a novelist, journalist, biographer, playwright, activist, teacher and memoirist. “A Boy’s Own Story” was a bestseller and classic coming-of-age novel that demonstrated gay literature’s commercial appeal. He wrote a prizewinning biography of playwright Jean Genet, books on Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud. He was a professor of creative writing at Princeton University, where colleagues included Toni Morrison and his close friend, Joyce Carol Oates.

“Among gay writers of his generation, Edmund White has emerged as the most versatile man of letters,” cultural critic Morris Dickstein wrote in The New York Times in 1995. “A cosmopolitan writer with a deep sense of tradition, he has bridged the gap between gay subcultures and a broader literary audience.”

Childhood yearnings

White was born in Cincinnati in 1940, but age at 7 moved with his mother to the Chicago area after his parents divorced. His father was a civil engineer “who reigned in silence over dinner as he studied his paper.” His mother was a psychologist “given to rages or fits of weeping.” Trapped in “the closed, sniveling, resentful world of childhood,” at times suicidal, White was at the same time a “fierce little autodidact” who sought escape through the stories of others, whether Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice” or a biography of dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

“As a young teenager I looked desperately for things to read that might excite me or assure me I wasn’t the only one, that might confirm my identity I was unhappily piecing together,” he wrote in the 1991 essay “Out of the Closet, On to the Bookshelf.”

As he wrote in “A Boy’s Own Story,” he knew as a child that he was attracted to boys, but for years was convinced he must change — out of a desire to please his father (whom he otherwise despised) and a wish to be “normal.” Even as he secretly wrote a “coming out” novel while a teenager, he insisted on seeing a therapist and begged to be sent to boarding school. One of the funniest and saddest episodes from “A Boy’s Own Story” told of a brief crush he had on a teenage girl, ended by a polite and devastating note of rejection.

“For the next few months I grieved,” White writes. “I would stay up all night crying and playing records and writing sonnets to Helen. What was I crying for?”

Early struggles, changing times

Through much of the 1960s, he was writing novels that were rejected or never finished. Late at night, he would “dress as a hippie, and head out for the bars.” A favorite stop was the Stonewall, where he would down vodka tonics and try to find the nerve to ask a man he had crush on to dance. He was in the neighborhood on the night of June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall and “all hell broke loose.”

“Up until that moment we had all thought homosexuality was a medical term,” wrote White, who soon joined the protests. “Suddenly we saw that we could be a minority group — with rights, a culture, an agenda.”

White’s debut novel, the surreal and suggestive “Forgetting Elena,” was published in 1973. He collaborated with Charles Silverstein on “The Joy of Gay Sex,” a follow-up to the bestselling “The Joy of Sex” that was updated after the emergence of AIDS. In 1978, his first openly gay novel, “Nocturnes for the King of Naples,” was released and he followed with the nonfiction “States of Desire,” his attempt to show “the varieties of gay experience and also to suggest the enormous range of gay life to straight and gay people — to show that gays aren’t just hairdressers, they’re also petroleum engineers and ranchers and short-order cooks.”

His other works included “Skinned Alive: Stories” and the novel “A Previous Life,” in which he turns himself into a fictional character and imagines himself long forgotten after his death. In 2009, he published “City Boy,” a memoir of New York in the 1960s and ’70s in which he told of his friendships and rivalries and gave the real names of fictional characters from his earlier novels. Other recent books included the novels “Jack Holmes & His Friend” and the memoir “Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris.”

“From an early age I had the idea that writing was truth-telling,” he told The Guardian around the time “Jack Holmes” was released. “It’s on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it goes back to the sacred origins of literature — the holy book. There’s nothing holy about it for me, but it should be serious and it should be totally transparent.”

​ Orange County Register 

Travel: Pigeon Forge is Dolly Parton’s gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains

• June 4, 2025

Dolly Parton isn’t a city founder of Pigeon Forge, Tenn. — that honor belongs to Euro-American settlers in the 1780s — but the superstar’s influence is so profound in this country-fried family vacation destination, it feels as if she is.

On highways and byways in and around town, Parton’s name and likeness are splashed on more roadside billboards than a self-promoting personal injury lawyer. She’s the face and joint owner of some of the region’s most popular attractions including world-famous Dollywood theme park. In Sevierville, the next city over, stands the Dolly Parton Statue, one of several landmarks in the country music legend’s hometown. To boot, which for her might be Western-style and beaded, the area’s largest medical center is not only home of the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services and the Dolly Parton Birthing Unit, but the hospital is located just off Dolly Parton Parkway.

So woven into the fabric of this gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains, Parton, who becomes an age-defying octogenarian in January, even has an animatronic chicken named after her at the most fowl and fun breakfast spot in these parts. You know you’ve made it when Frizzle Chicken Farmhouse Café immortalizes you as “Dolly PartHEN,” the headliner in a chorus of performing poultry that bursts out in song (“Y-M-C-Egg?”) several times an hour.

“Dream more, learn more, care more and be more” is one of PartHEN’s — check that — Parton’s more sage quotable quotes, and, clearly, the country music icon practices what she preaches, and it’s mutual. Besides living a life that has earned her tremendous love, praise and money (her net worth is estimated at over $650 million), the Tennessee native is celebrating Dollywood’s 40th anniversary this year.

When a certain travel writer from California asked Parton to expound on what the milestone anniversary means to her as one who wears the hat of a businesswoman, an entertainer and one born and raised in the backyard of where Dollywood stands today, she didn’t skip a beat showing off her signature sass.

“This is not a hat, it’s a wig,” she said to the laughter of season-opening guests within earshot. “But underneath it, I am very grateful to see that my dream came true. It means the world to me to do something here in my hometown and honor my own people, and I love that. As a businesswoman, I love being involved in all kinds of things because when they call it the ‘music business,’ I thought early on, I already know what to do about the music because that comes naturally; I gotta focus more on the business part of it. But I like getting involved. I like running around with the big boys out there. I’m so proud I was able to see this dream come true.”

Parton’s vision of building a “fantasy mountain park” was announced in 1983 and it became real two years later when she partnered with Silver Dollar City Tennessee, the 125-acre sister to the original Silver Dollar City still operating in Branson, Mo. The Pigeon Forge park reopened the following year freshly expanded, rebranded and metamorphosed like a beautiful butterfly, which, as Dollyites know, is their idol’s personal “emblem.” In fact, the “w” in the omnipresent Dollywood logo is replaced with an open-winged butterfly.

The self-deprecating, yet self-confident “Queen of Country Music” is enjoying Dollywood’s 40th season with extra swagger. For the third time in a row, her now-165-acre Southern Shangri-la was named by the National Amusement Park Historical Association as America’s favorite theme park, a distinction that may contribute to Dollywood (dollywood.com) being one of the most-visited theme parks in North America.

Attractions aplenty

Parton’s wild success in bringing country charm, thrill rides and live entertainment to a single gated attraction, in addition to sprouting two stunning resorts, big-production dinner shows, a world-class water park and more in which she has a significant ownership stake, has enabled a glut of amusement operations to ride on her rhinestone-studded coattails.

Dollywood’s Lightning Rod, hailed as one of the best roller-coasters in the world, doesn’t come close to making one as dizzy as when counting all the mountain coasters, wacky mini-golf courses, go-kart tracks, themed dinner shows, ziplines, carnival rides, indoor snow-tubing and novelty museums along the main drags of Pigeon Forge, let alone all the attractions dotting nearby Gatlinburg and Sevierville.

Looking at the two most vibrant family-friendly vacation destinations in America’s Heartland, it’s safe to say that what Branson is to the Ozarks, Pigeon Forge is to the Smokies. Whereas the Missouri entry is known for its live entertainment backdropped by majestic beauty, its kissing cousin in Tennessee has that and a whole lot more. So, in that respect, Pigeon Forge may have the edge even without factoring in a world-famous theme park.

That said, with the greater variety of attractions comes more tourist traps interspersed with quality establishments. So, let’s not waste our time and your money on such idle amusements as the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride ($22 per person for 10 cheesy minutes), Lost Mine Mountain Coaster ($19 gets the area’s longest ride, but way too much automatic slowing and braking) or Earthquake the Ride (OK, so it’s over the hill in Gatlinburg, but $15 for three minutes of lame effects registers 8.2 on the Rip-off Scale).

The Titanic Museum and Comedy Barn, both Dolly’s, and the Alcatraz East Crime Museum are solid nice-to-do’s. If beauty blended with brawn is what you crave, Pink Jeep Tours is a winner, (pinkadventuretours.com) offering six exciting experiences that take folks in and around Smoky Mountain National Park, by far the most-visited among the 63. Bear sightings aren’t guaranteed, but thrills are as tours include some off-roading on steep terrain at the hands of a driver-guide who’s an expert on the area and behind the wheel.

From axles to axes, Paula Dean’s Lumberjack Feud (lumberjackfeud.com) is as corny as Kansas in August, even though the celebrity chef prefers serving guests her famous creamy mac and cheese instead of a buttery cob. For an affordable $58 for adults and $29 for kids, you get a hearty all-you-can-eat buffet, world-class professional lumberjacks giving their all, and G-rated comedy.

For an “Arrr”-rated show, shiver your timbers at Pirates Voyage (piratesvoyage.com), a feast for the eyes thanks to an odd mix of buccaneers doing battle in and around a 15-foot-deep indoor lagoon, fetching mermaids, trained animals and, for the 2025 season, a spirited Polynesian act with fire dancing. The experience is also a feast for the stomach with a delicious fully served meal featuring fried chicken, ham and apple pie. Epic as Pirates Voyage is, if your travel budget only allows for one dinner show in Pigeon Forge, Dolly Parton’s Stampede is the ticket. Speaking of which, regular admission starts at $82 for guests 10 and over, same over at the swashbuckling sister spectacle up the road.

Stampede (dpstampede.com) satisfies with a four-course dinner (rotisserie chicken and pulled pork are the proteins) and dazzles with impressive horse-riding stunts, hillbilly humor and a star-spangled finale featuring Parton’s original song, “Color Me America.” A recent addition to the show is a segment called “Butterfly Dreams,” during which two- and four-legged cast members perform to the owner’s soft and gentle “Love is Like a Butterfly.” The new act is downright mesmerizing.

Incidentally, Parton also has brought her Stampede dinner show to Branson, and with her expansion of the Pirates Voyage concept, she’s discovered treasure in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and, as of June 6, Panama City Beach, Fla.

Hitting the hay

If Parton can bring her Tennessee magic to Florida, then it’s only fair that another entrepreneurial singer-songwriter has done the same, but in reverse. The laid-back tropical spirit of adopted Floridian son Jimmy Buffett is alive and well in the Smokies two years after his passing. Pigeon Forge is where four of the region’s five Margaritaville hotels and resorts (margaritavilleresorts.com) are located, and two of those are anchors of a vibrant mixed-use destination called The Island. You can’t miss it thanks to a 200-foot-high observation wheel that offers spectacular views of this picturesque place.

Margaritaville Island Hotel, not to be confused with Margaritaville Island Inn next door, has 134 upscale rooms and a restaurant-bar with killer coconut shrimp and frozen concoctions that help you hang on. The hotel’s signature blend of mountain latitude and island attitude benefits the more modestly priced, 104-room “Inn” mere steps away.

Mere minutes away, by car or trailer, is Camp Margaritaville RV Resort & Lodge. A chill island vibe in the foothills can be enjoyed two distinct ways: Stay in a clean, comfortable 79-room lodge with rustic décor, or park your rig, rented or otherwise, on one of 157 full-hookup sites with equal access to such amenities as a lazy river, pickleball court, dog park and all-indoor entertainment center.

As many Pigeon Forge visitors delight in wasting away again in a Margaritaville, others relish not working 9 to 5 by booking one of Parton’s two resorts in town. As sure as fresh-baked cinnamon bread is Dollywood’s most famous treat, Parton has a major stake in the 307-room DreamMore Resort and Spa and newer 302-unit HeartSong Lodge & Resort, both a free shuttle ride away from her two gated parks, the other being the wet and wild Dollywood’s Splash Country.

Even in the off-season, which is early-January through mid-March for Dollywood and mid-September through mid-May for Splash Country, bunking at either resort could be a vacation all to itself. DreamMore’s homey elegance and HeartSong’s “upscale lodge” atmosphere are in season any time of year. Of course, going when the parks are dark means missing out on TimeSaver ride passes, package shipment to the hotel (no lugging around bulky souvenirs!), preferred parking and other perks of being a Dollywood resort guest.

Now, if only they offered a free loaf of that to-die-for cinnamon bread at check-in.

​ Orange County Register 

What is the CBO? A look at the small office inflaming debate over Trump’s tax bill

• June 4, 2025

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — A small government office with some 275 employees has found itself caught in the political crossfire as Congress debates President Donald Trump’s “one big beautiful bill.”

The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the legislation would increase federal deficits by about $2.4 trillion over 10 years. That’s a problem for a Republican Congress that has spent much of the past four years criticizing former President Joe Biden and Democrats for the nation’s rising debt levels.

The White House and Republican leaders in Congress are taking issue with CBO’s findings. They say economic growth will be higher than the office is projecting, resulting in more revenue coming into government coffers. Meanwhile, Democrats are touting CBO’s findings as evidence of the bill’s failings.

Here’s a look at the office at the center of Washington’s latest political tug-of-war.

What is the CBO?

Lawmakers established the Congressional Budget Office more than 50 years ago to provide objective, impartial analysis to support the budget process. The CBO is required to produce a cost estimate for nearly every bill approved by a House or Senate committee and will weigh in earlier when asked to do so by lawmakers.

It also produces a report each Congress on how to reduce the debt if lawmakers so choose with each option including arguments for or against. Plus, it publishes detailed estimates when presidents make proposals that would affect mandator spending, which includes programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Lawmakers created the office to help Congress play a stronger role in budget matters, providing them with an alternative to the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of a Republican or Democratic administration, depending upon the president in office.

Is the CBO partisan?

CBO hires analysts based on their expertise, not political affiliation. Staff is expected to maintain objectivity and avoid political influence. In evaluating potential employees, the CBO says that for most positions it looks at whether that person would be perceived to be free from political bias.

Like other federal employees, the CBO’s staff is also prohibited from making political contributions to members of Congress.

The CBO’s director, Phillip Swagel, served in former Republican President George W. Bush’s administration as an economic adviser and as an assistant secretary at the Treasury Department.

Why is the CBO being attacked now?

The stakes are incredibly high with Republicans looking to pass their massive tax cut and immigration bill by early July.

Outside groups, Democrats and some Republicans are highlighting CBO’s analysis that the bill will increase federal deficits by about $2.4 trillion over 10 years and leave 10.9 million more people uninsured in 2034.

Republicans spent much of Biden’s presidency focused on curbing federal deficits. They don’t want to be seen as contributing to the fiscal problem.

GOP lawmakers say the CBO isn’t giving enough credit to the economic growth the bill will create, to the point where it would be deficit-neutral in the long run, if not better.

“The CBO assumes long-term GDP growth of an anemic 1.8% and that is absurd,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “The American economy is going to boom like never before after the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ is passed.”

Republicans began taking issue with the CBO even before Trump and the current Congress were sworn into office.

“CBO will always predict a dark future when Republicans propose tax relief — but the reality is never so dire,” Rep. Jason Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a December news release.

Recently, House Speaker Mike Johnson has been taking digs at the office.

“The CBO is notorious for getting things WRONG,” he said in a Facebook post.

What did CBO say about the tax cuts enacted in Trump’s first term?

In April 2018, CBO said that tax receipts would total $27 trillion from fiscal years 2018 to 2024.

Receipts came in about $1.5 trillion higher than the CBO projected. Republicans have seized on that discrepancy.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Some of the criticism of the CBO ignores the context of a global pandemic as the federal government rushed to prop the economy up with massive spending bills under both Trump and Biden.

In a blog post last December, Swagel pointed out three reasons for the higher revenues: The primary reason was the burst of inflation that began in March 2021 as the country was recovering from COVID. That burst of inflation, he said, led to about $900 billion more in revenue.

There was also an increase in economic activity in “the later years of the period” adding $700 billion. Also, new tariffs added about $250 billion, with other legislation partially offsetting those three factors.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump says Putin told him that Russia will respond to Ukrainian attack on airfields

• June 4, 2025

By HANNA ARHIROVA and MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him “very strongly” in a phone call Wednesday that he will respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airfields, as the deadlock over the war drags on and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismisses Russia’s ceasefire proposal.

The U.S. president said in a social media post that his lengthy call with Putin “was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”

It’s the first time Trump has weighed in on Ukraine’s daring attack inside Russia. The U.S. did not have advance notice of the operation, according to the White House. The U.S. has led a recent diplomatic push to stop the full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.

Trump, in his social media post, did not say how he reacted to Putin’s promise to respond to Ukraine’s attack, but his post showed none of the frustration that Trump has expressed with his Russian counterpart in recent weeks over his prolonging of the war.

Trump repeatedly promised to end the war quickly, and even said he would accomplish it before he was sworn in. But he lost patience with Putin in recent weeks, publicly pleading with him to stop fighting and even said late last month that the Russian leader “has gone absolutely CRAZY.”

Trump, however, has not committed to backing a bipartisan push to sanction Putin.

During the call, Trump’s first known talk with Putin since May 19, they also discussed Iran’s nuclear program, according to Trump.

It was not clear if Trump also planned to speak with Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy brushes off Russian plan and pushes for talks

The Ukrainian leader earlier Wednesday dismissed Russia’s ceasefire plan as “an ultimatum” and renewed his call for direct talks with Putin to break the stalemate over the war, which has dragged on for nearly 3½ years.

Putin, however, showed no willingness to meet with Zelenskyy, expressing anger Wednesday about what he said were Ukraine’s recent “terrorist acts” on Russian rail lines in the Kursk and Bryansk regions on the countries’ border.

“How can any such (summit) meetings be conducted in such circumstances? What shall we talk about?” Putin asked in a video call with top Russian officials.

He accused Ukraine of seeking a truce only to replenish its stockpiles of Western arms, recruit more soldiers and prepare new attacks like those in Kursk and Bryansk.

Both sides exchanged memorandums setting out their conditions for a ceasefire for discussion at Monday’s direct peace talks between delegations in Istanbul, their second meeting in just over two weeks. Zelenskyy had previously challenged Putin to meet him in Turkey, but Putin stayed away.

Russia and Ukraine have established red lines that make a quick deal unlikely, despite a U.S.-led international diplomatic push to stop the fighting. The Kremlin’s Istanbul proposal contained a list of demands that Kyiv and its Western allies see as nonstarters.

‘This document looks like spam’

Zelenskyy said that the second round of talks in Istanbul was no different from the first meeting on May 16. Zelenskyy described the latest negotiations in Istanbul as “a political performance” and “artificial diplomacy” designed to stall for time, delay sanctions and convince the United States that Russia is engaged in dialogue.

“The same ultimatums they voiced back then — now they just put them on paper … Honestly, this document looks like spam. It’s spam meant to flood us and create the impression that they’re doing something,” Zelenskyy said in his first reaction to the Russian document.

He added that the 2025 talks in Istanbul carry “the same content and spirit” as the fruitless negotiations held in the Turkish city in the early days of the war.

The Ukrainian leader said that he sees little value in continuing talks at the current level of delegations. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov led the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul, while Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, headed the Russian team.

Zelenskyy said he wants a ceasefire with Russia before a possible summit meeting with Putin, possibly also including Trump, in an effort to remove obstacles to a peace settlement.

“We are proposing … a ceasefire before a leaders’ summit,” with the U.S. acting as a mediator, Zelenskyy told a media briefing in Kyiv.

“Why a ceasefire before the leaders’ meeting? Because if we meet and there is no mutual understanding, no willingness or vision on how to end this, then the ceasefire would end that same day. But if we see readiness to continue the dialogue and take real steps toward de-escalation, then the ceasefire would be extended with U.S. mediation guarantees,” he said.

Ukraine is ready to meet at any time from next Monday at a venue such as Istanbul, the Vatican or Switzerland, Zelenskyy said.

U.S. defense secretary stays away

A second round of peace talks on Monday between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul lasted just over an hour and made no progress on ending the war. They agreed only to swap thousands of their dead and seriously wounded troops.

Also, a new prisoner exchange with Russia could take place over the weekend, Zelenskyy said.

The U.S. has shown signs of distancing itself from the conflict.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth skipped a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday of an international group coordinating military aid to Ukraine. It was the first time America’s Pentagon chief didn’t attend alongside 50 other defense leaders since the U.S. created the group three years ago.

An analysis published Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said the Kremlin is hoping for U.S. disengagement while avoiding further sanctions.

“Without serious pain, Putin will continue to drag the peace talks out, keep fighting, and wait for the United States to walk away,” it said.

In tandem with the talks, both sides have kept up offensive military actions along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and carried out deep strikes.

Ukraine’s Security Service gave more details Wednesday about its spectacular weekend drone strike on Russian air bases, which it claimed destroyed or damaged 41 Russian aircraft, including strategic bombers.

The agency claimed the planes struck included A-50, Tu-95, Tu-22, Tu-160, An-12, and Il-78 aircraft, adding that artificial intelligence helped guide the drones thousands of kilometers (miles) from Ukraine.

It also said it set off an explosion on Tuesday on the seabed beneath the Kerch Bridge, a vital transport link between Russia and illegally annexed Crimea, claiming it caused damage to the structure.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that there was no damage.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its troops have taken control of another village in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, on the border with Russia. Putin announced on May 22 that Russian troops aim to create a buffer zone that might help prevent Ukrainian cross-border attacks. Since then, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claims its forces have taken control of nine Sumy villages.

Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England contributed.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ Jorge Soler struggles to find himself at the plate

• June 4, 2025

BOSTON — Jorge Soler was in the middle of conducting an interview with the help of bullpen catcher Manny Del Campo, who serves at the team’s Spanish interpreter, when he suddenly gave a very simple answer in English.

Asked how he felt at the plate lately, Soler said: “Bad.”

The numbers tell the same story. Soler has hit .180 with a .538 OPS in his past 27 games. There was a moment a couple weeks ago, when he said Angels hitting coaches had helped him make a useful adjustment, but now he’s searching again.

“I think I have another issue,” Soler said through Del Campo. “But I’m working on it. Doing drills. I’m going to be there soon.”

Manager Ron Washington also said he’s seen signs of a turnaround.

“It looks like he’s starting to get more comfortable,” Washington said. “He’s not chasing as much. He’s still a little late on the fastball, but I think with his experience, it’s going to pick back up. What I see right now, he’s putting real good at-bats together … I’m looking for him to take off there pretty soon.”

Soler has been in a slump since the day after he hit the 198th homer of his career on May 1. Since then, he’s hit just one homer.

“Obviously, that’s in my head, but I’m not going to the plate and trying to hit homers,” Soler said. “I’m trying to get singles and that’s what’s going to make me feel good.”

Lately, Soler has had another challenge. Mike Trout’s return to the lineup in the designated hitter spot has pushed Soler into the right field. He started in right Wednesday for the fifth time in six games on the trip. He has started 19 games in the outfield this season.

“So far I’m doing great,” Soler said of his outfield play. “I feel great. I’m getting my prepared differently now. I’ll be better.”

Washington was the third-base coach in Atlanta in 2021, when Soler played 50 games in the outfield with the Braves. Eric Young Sr., the Angels’ first-base coach, was also on the staff there.

“I think he surprised every one of you guys,” Washington said. “He surprised you. He’s not surprising me. He’s not surprising EY. We’ve seen him play outfield. Yes, I think if you run him out there too long, it may become detrimental, but he’s a veteran, and he’s in a stretch right now where he has to play a little bit of outfield. Mentally, he’s ready to do it.”

So far Soler has handled the routine plays. The only questionable moment was Saturday in Cleveland. He dove for a ball that he had little chance to catch, instead of pulling up and holding the hitter to a single.

“I love the effort, so I’m not going to question what happened,” Washington said Saturday.

It remains to be seen how much longer the Angels will need Soler on defense. Trout still hasn’t worked out in the outfield since going on the injured list. Washington said the plan is for him to begin some outfield workouts this weekend.

“When he will get to the outfield to play, that’s still up in the air,” Washington said.

ANGRY WORDS

Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson and several coaches from both the Angels and Red Sox engaged in a brief shouting match on the field before Wednesday’s game.

The argument dissipated quickly, and then Red Sox manager Alex Cora had a calm conversation with Anderson.

Neither Anderson nor Angels pitching coach Barry Enright, who was at the center of the argument, were available to comment before the game.

NOTES

All-Star voting began Wednesday. The Angels’ candidates on the ballot are catcher Logan O’Hoppe, first baseman Nolan Schanuel, shortstop Zach Neto, third baseman Yoán Moncada, outfielders Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Trout and DH Soler. The first phase of balloting ends June 26. Voting is conducted on the official MLB site. …

Right-hander Connor Brogdon has allowed one unearned run in 6⅔ innings in his past seven games, with six strikeouts and one walk. Brogdon’s average fastball is up to 97 this month, compared with 94 mph in April at Triple-A. “What I’m seeing right now is what I’ve seen on his fastball when he was with Philly, when he was a big part of that Philadelphia bullpen,” Washington said. Brogdon had a 3.55 ERA with the Phillies, from 2020 to 2023.

UP NEXT

Mariners (TBD) at Angels (RHP Kyle Hendricks, 2-6, 5.34), 6:38 p.m. Friday, FanDuel Sports Network West, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Federal lawsuit: UCLA’s med school used race in rejecting highly qualified Asian and white students over less-qualified applicants

• June 4, 2025

A federal lawsuit alleges that UCLA has used race as a basis for admitting less-qualified applicants into its prestigious David Geffen School of Medicine, a process that deprived more qualified Asian and white applicants of their right to equal treatment and denied them “the opportunity to pursue their lifelong dream of becoming a doctor because of utterly arbitrary criteria.” 

The lawsuit was brought by Students for Fair Admissions, the nonprofit whose similar lawsuit against Harvard led to the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on affirmative action; Do No Harm, a national association of medical professionals that describes itself as “combating the attack on our healthcare system from woke activists”; and Kelly Mahoney, a student rejected by the UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine.

It names as defendants a who’s-who of state officials – including Governor Gavin Newsom and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond – as well as UCLA administrators, including Jennifer Lucero, the medical school’s associate dean of admissions. 

Citing alleged violations of state and federal law, the plaintiffs ask the court “to stop the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and various UCLA officials from engaging in intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process.”

Admission to the school is highly competitive. Some 14,000 people apply annually for about 100 openings at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. It notes that, from 2020-2023, “the percentage of white and Asian applicants to Geffen was consistently around 73 percent of the total applicant pool. Yet the percentage of matriculants to Geffen who are white and Asian plummeted: 66 percent in 2020, 57 percent in 2021, 58 percent in 2022, and 54 percent in 2023.”

At the same time, the Geffen School’s reputation sagged. In 2020, U.S. News and World Report ranked it the nation’s sixth best medical school. Three years later, the school fell to No. 18.

That period began, the complaint alleges, with the school’s decision in 2020 to promote Jennifer Lucero to associate dean of admissions. 

“Lucero is an outspoken advocate for using race to make admission and hiring decisions in medical schools and hospitals,” the complaint says. As dean of admissions, she “wields significant influence over Geffen’s admissions policies and practices, the appointment of the admissions committee members, the committee’s deliberations, and admission decisions.”

“On one occasion,” the complaint claims, “when the [admissions] committee was deliberating on a black applicant with a significantly below-average GPA and MCAT score, Lucero stated: ‘Did you not know African-American women are dying at a higher rate than everyone else? We need people like this in the medical school.’”

“Committee members report that the bar for underrepresented minorities is ‘as low as you could possibly imagine’ and that the committee ‘completely disregards grades and achievements’ for those applicants.”

“Lucero regularly bullies and berates members of the Admissions Committee who voice concerns about admitting below-average black applicants by labeling them as ‘privileged’ and implying that they are racist,” the complaint reads.

Though the complaint doesn’t name him, applicant Geoffrey Tong (not his real name) told Southern California News Group that the allegations make sense to him. Though he clocked top grades as an undergrad and top-tier MCAT scores, Tong figured he had a chance at getting in – if not in the first round, then surely in the second. He was wrong.

“What really surprised me – or maybe, I guess, shocked me – was that they didn’t even give me a second look,” he said. “They just sent me a kind of routine rejection letter. I was kind of embarrassed, if that makes any sense.”In its Nov. 1 letter to Tong, UCLA’s Geffen School explained that “the large number of highly qualified applications received made the section process a difficult one. It is with regret that I must inform you that we will not be taking further action on your application.”

The brief note was signed “Jennifer Lucero, Associate Dean of Admissions.”

Rejected by every University of California medical school to which he applied, Tong was accepted by several others outside California. This fall, he’ll attend medical school 3000 miles from the California home where he was raised by parents who are themselves the children of Asian immigrants.

Tong says he’s “uncomfortable to even think” about race and admissions, never mind to talk about it. He says he knew nothing about Lucero or the controversy at UCLA until after he was rejected. Then he went online and discovered “several other students” had found themselves in the same strange situation – highly successful, well-rounded students mysteriously unacceptable to the Geffen School.

Many of those applicants directed one another to revelations in reporting last year by Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon. Relying on UCLA documents and interviews, Sibarium cited the experience of a Geffen School professor who said one of the school’s students “could not identify a major artery when asked, [and] then berated the professor for putting her on the spot. Another said that students at the end of their clinical rotations don’t know basic lab tests and, in some cases, are unable to present patients.”

“I don’t know how some of these students are going to be junior doctors,” the professor said. “Faculty are seeing a shocking decline in knowledge of medical students.”

Tong admits that he’s “a glass is half-full kind of guy.” So, given the scandal at UCLA, he considers himself “lucky.”

“I’m not sure I would have been comfortable at the Geffen School,” he says. “I was pretty upset at first – felt like I’d let down my family and failed somehow. But we’re all pretty happy now that I won’t have to go through all that.”

Will Swaim is president of the California Policy Center and cohost with David Bahnsen of National Review’s Radio Free California podcast.

​ Orange County Register 

Costco wants to add a retail warehouse in Lake Forest

• June 4, 2025

The warehouse retail giant Costco – a favorite of shoppers and city budget directors alike — wants to build its 14th Orange County store in Lake Forest.

The chain that’s known for offering family-sized goods, food samples and a $1.50 hot dog-and-drink deal provided a glimpse into its plans in Lake Forest’s public planning documents. Costco typically does not comment on new store developments.

According to the paperwork, the company intends to demolish a shuttered movie theater at the Foothill Ranch Towne Centre and replace it with a 160,811 square-foot store on the 16-acre site that includes the entertainment facility and its parking lot. The theater, which operated under the Regal and Cinemark brands, last showed films in September 2024.

The store, if approved as suggested, would be slightly larger than a typical Costco, which is around 140,000 square feet. The proposal also includes a tire center at the Lake Forest site.

It’s clear the Lake Forest plan is evolving. A project summary from January showed Costco wanted a gas station at the site. Plus, rooftop parking above the store was included, an amenity likely necessary to make up for spaces lost to a fuel center. However, a Costco filing with the city from May 27 talks only of a one-story building, traditional ground-level parking, and no gas station.

Cities typically welcome a Costco due to the significant sales tax revenues its huge stores generate. Annual sales can run $250 million or more.

“The project is still in the early stages, but we’re excited about the potential of having a Costco in Lake Forest,” said Jonathan Volzke, the city’s spokesperson.

The Foothill Ranch shopping center, situated in the northern part of the city a block north of the 241 toll road, lies between Bake and Alton parkways. This center would provide a new Costco with “big box” competition from nearby Walmart and Target stores.

The nearest Costco is 6 miles away in Irvine, close to the 5 freeway. A Lake Forest location would shorten the drive for Costco fans, not just in the city, but also in Rancho Santa Margarita, the Saddleback foothills and parts of Mission Viejo and Irvine.

Across Orange County, Costco also has two warehouses in Laguna Niguel and Tustin, along with locations in Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Westminster, Huntington Beach, La Habra, San Juan Capistrano and Yorba Linda.

Costco is willing to think outside the norm for its Southern California expansions. In South Los Angeles, a new 185,000-square-foot Costco will be the first floor of a high-rise mixed-use project that also contains 800 apartments.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

Napa Valley town that once rode out emergencies with diesel gets a clean-power backup

• June 4, 2025

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT

CALISTOGA, Calif. (AP) — For residents of this quaint tourist town on the northern edge of Napa Valley, the threat of wildfire is seldom out of mind. The hillside bears burn scars from a 2020 fire that forced all of Calistoga to evacuate, and the 2017 Tubbs fire that killed 22 people in wine country started just a few miles from downtown.

When fire danger required shutting off transmission lines that might spark a blaze, the town relied on a bank of generators in a popular recreation area that belched choking diesel exhaust and rumbled so loudly it drove people away.

But now Calistoga is shifting to a first-of-its-kind system that combines two clean-energy technologies — hydrogen fuel cells and batteries — for enough juice to power the city for about two days. Experts say the technology has potential beyond simply delivering clean backup power in emergencies; they say it’s a steppingstone to supporting the electric grid any day of the year.

As the system was undergoing its final tests in late May in an area that includes a dog park, ball fields, community garden and bike trail, residents said they were grateful to be guaranteed clean energy year-round. Lisa Gift, a resident who also serves on the city council, noted Calistoga is already grappling with climate change that is fueling more intense and frequent wildfires.

“Continuing to depend on fossil fuels was simply not sustainable,” Gift said. “That’s what excited me about this. It’s a clean and reliable energy solution that ensures the safety and resilience of our community.”

Energy Vault, an energy storage company based in California, built the new facility that was to come online in early June. Next year, it could be exporting power to the electric grid whenever needed once its application to fully connect is approved.

The installation sits next to where Pacific Gas & Electric used to set up nine mobile generators every year from late spring through fall. Behind a chain-link fence stand six hydrogen fuel cells standing two stories tall made by Plug Power in New York. Water vapor wafted from one of the fuel cells being tested as The Associated Press got an exclusive tour of the site as it was in final testing.

Shipping containers hold two pairs of Energy Vault’s lithium-ion batteries. Nearby, a cinder block wall surrounds a massive, double-walled steel tank that holds 80,000 gallons (302,833 liters) of extremely cold liquid hydrogen that gets converted to gas to run the fuel cells.

Utility was searching for a cleaner solution

California utilities, especially PG&E, have had to pay large settlements over igniting wildfires. PG&E began cutting power at times to reduce fire risk in 2018, one of California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire years. It ships diesel generators to about a dozen towns to provide backup power during those periods.

Calistoga, the largest with about 5,000 people, has had its power shut off 10 times. When generators ran, they spewed exhaust with harmful nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and soot. PG&E considered replacing Calistoga’s diesel generators with a natural gas version that would pollute less, but opted instead for Energy Vault’s fully clean solution, said Dave Canny, the utility’s vice president for the North Coast Region.

Energy Vault CEO Robert Piconi said other communities, military bases and data centers could all use something similar, but potential customers wanted to see it function first.

“There’s a massive proof point with this project,” he said. “I think it’ll have a lot of implications for how people think about alternative, sustainable solutions.”

The fuel cell maker, Plug Power, is planning for these types of products to be its main business in a decade. Energy Vault said it’s buying clean hydrogen, produced with low or no greenhouse gas emissions, to run the fuel cells in Calistoga.

“This solution is just beautiful,” said Janice Lin, founder and president of the Green Hydrogen Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for green hydrogen projects to combat climate change. “No noise, no emissions. And it’s renewable. It’s dumping diesel.”

A year-round clean system brings comfort

Calistoga caters to tourists with a main thoroughfare that emphasizes local shops, restaurants, tasting rooms and art galleries over franchise stories. Residents pride themselves on a smalltown vibe, and say Calistoga isn’t posh like much of the rest of Napa Valley.

Some of those residents were concerned at first about the hydrogen, which is flammable and can be explosive. Fire Chief Jed Matcham said the “very, very large tank” got his attention, too.

He collaborated with Energy Vault on emergency planning and training, and said he’s comfortable with the safety measures in place. Energy Vault’s batteries also come with alarms, detectors and piping to extinguish a fire.

The next time PG&E turns off the power to the area to prevent wildfires, it will tell Energy Vault when it’s safe to electrify Calistoga. The batteries will get things back up and running, discharging the energy stored inside them to the local microgrid.

Then the hydrogen fuel cells will take over to generate a steady level of power for a longer period. By working in tandem — the company likened it to the way a hybrid vehicle works — the batteries and fuel cells are expected to keep the lights on for about 48 hours or longer.

Clive Richardson, who owns downtown’s Calistoga Roastery and can typically be found behind the counter, drinking coffee and chatting with customers, said people in Calistoga get on edge when the winds kick up. And he knows what it’s like to have to empty out his store when power goes out — a big hit for a small-business owner.

A year-round clean solution for emergency power gives him a measure of comfort.

“This will give us far more security than we had before,” he said. “It’s fantastic that it’s come. Here we are, little ol’ Calistoga, and we’ve got the first-of-a-kind system that hopefully will be endorsed and go all over the world.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental 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