Update: Wind advisory for Tehachapi and 5 freeway through Grapevine until Thursday night

• February 28, 2025

Tehachapi and 5 freeway through Grapevine are under an updated wind advisory which was issued by the National Weather Service on Thursday at 5:50 p.m. The advisory is in effect until 10 p.m.

The NWS Hanford CA says to anticipate, “East winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph.”

“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result,” the NWS said. “Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.”

​ Orange County Register 

Caden Dana works 3 perfect innings and Angels rally to tie Cubs

• February 27, 2025

THE GAME: Kyren Paris hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth to help the Angels to a 4-4 tie against the Chicago Cubs in a Cactus League game on Thursday in Mesa, Arizona.

PITCHING REPORT: Right-hander Caden Dana pitched three perfect innings, striking out three, against a team full of Cubs major leaguers. In his first outing, Dana gave up three runs and couldn’t make it through his two innings. This time, Dana said he was focused on a mechanical tweak he made between starts. “It helped my fastball and gave me confidence through everything else,” Dana said. Dana was starting in place of Jack Kochanowicz, who was sick this week. … Right-hander Hans Crouse pitched a perfect inning, striking out two. Crouse has retired all six hitters he’s faced this spring, striking out five.

HITTING REPORT: Tim Anderson hit a homer, his first hit of the spring. He also walked. A two-time batting champ, Anderson is in camp as a non-roster invitee. He has a chance to be the Angels’ starting shortstop while Zach Neto is out. … Nelson Rada singled and then hustled to beat a seemingly routine force at second. … Paris now has two game-tying hits in the ninth inning in the first week of spring training. He sparked the Angels’ comeback in the first game of the spring last week. “You can see the growth right in front of you,” Manager Ron Washington said. “It’s a totally different guy than last spring.”

DEFENSE REPORT: Shortstop Scott Kingery ranged to his right to make a nice backhand play on a grounder. He then threw on the run to first to get the out. … Kingery and Anderson, the second baseman, collaborated on a quick turn to get an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

UP NEXT: Game 1: Chicago White Sox (RHP Jonathan Cannon) at Angels (LHP Reid Detmers), Friday, 12:10 p.m. PT, at Tempe Diablo Stadium, FanDuel Sports Network West, 830 AM; Game 2: Angels (LHP Yusei Kikuchi) at Dodgers (RHP Dustin May), Friday, 5:05 p.m. PT, at Camelback Ranch, Glendale, Ariz., SNLA

​ Orange County Register 

Anaheim man sentenced to 2 years in prison for attempting to lure 12-year-old into his car

• February 27, 2025

A 47-year-old Anaheim man was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison for attempting to lure a 12-year-old boy into his car in Anaheim.

German Reyesramos pleaded guilty Jan. 28 to two counts of contacting a minor with the intent to commit a specified offense and one count of possessing child pornography, all felonies.

Police were dispatched about 9:30 a.m. Feb. 13, 2024, to the 2900 block of West Orange Street, about two-tenths of a mile east of Beach Boulevard, for a reported attempted kidnapping, police said.

The suspect asked the boy if he wanted a ride while holding a bundle of money, police said. The boy refused and called 911.

Reyesramos was arrested while driving a tan 2002 Dodge Durango SUV, which police suspect was the same vehicle used in the attempted abduction, police said.

The defendant approached another boy on Feb. 20, 2024, according to the criminal complaint.

The defendant accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Chris Duff.

​ Orange County Register 

Chris Kluwe says he was fired from Edison High School football coaching job following MAGA protest

• February 27, 2025

Chris Kluwe, the former NFL punter who garnered national attention this month for his protest against a plaque at the Huntington Beach Central Library with a MAGA reference, said Thursday he had been fired from his coaching job at Edison High School.

Kluwe, a former punter for the Minnesota Vikings, had coached freshman football for five years at Edison, part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District. He said he was called into a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 27, with Edison’s athletic director and the assistant principal of supervision, “And they said … based on what’s going on we just feel it’s too much attention and we have to let you go.”

Kluwe said he was offered the chance to resign, but he told them no “because I wanted people to see what MAGA actually means for a community and that this will not make our community better, it’s taking away a resource from the kids.”

School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kluwe was detained by police officers after he took a few steps toward the City Council dais following his public comment at the Feb. 18 Huntington Beach council meeting. During his address to the council, he argued a plaque to be installed at the Central Library with a MAGA acrostic is “propaganda” and the MAGA, or Make America Great Again, movement spurred by President Donald Trump “stands for hate, and fear, and the idea that we should have a king instead of co-equal branches of government.”

Police arrested him for disrupting an assembly.

Kluwe said he believes a coordinated campaign reached out to the school to push for his dismissal, adding that the school made a “cowardly decision” to bow to pressure.

He said it’s a loss for the students because he was a coach with NFL experience.

Kluwe said he expected to be back next year coaching special teams.

A longtime resident of Huntington Beach, Kluwe grew up in Seal Beach and attended Los Alamitos High School. He played as a punter with the Minnesota Vikings for eight years. He’s had a long history of activism on various issues and was a vocal supporter of marriage equality during his NFL tenure, before same-sex marriage was legalized throughout the U.S.

​ Orange County Register 

Harsh flu season has health officials worried about brain complications in children

• February 27, 2025

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s harsh flu season – the most intense in 15 years – has federal health officials trying to understand if it sparked an increase in a rare but life-threatening brain complication in children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 19,000 people have died from the flu so far this winter, including 86 children. Thursday, the CDC reported at least nine of those children experienced brain complications, and it has asked state health departments to help investigate if there are more such cases.

There is some good news: The CDC also reported that this year’s flu shots do a pretty good job preventing hospitalization from the flu — among the 45% of Americans who got vaccinated. But it comes a day after the Trump administration added to the uncertainty roiling government health agencies by canceling a meeting of experts who are supposed to help choose the recipe for next winter’s flu vaccine.

Still, it’s not too late to get vaccinated this year: “If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, get it because we’re still seeing high flu circulation in most of the country,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Flu shot effectiveness varies from year to year. While not great at blocking infections, the vaccine’s main role “is to keep you out of the hospital and to keep you alive,” said Vanderbilt University vaccine expert Dr. William Schaffner.

Preliminary CDC data released Thursday found children who got this year’s vaccine were between 64% and 78% less likely to be hospitalized than their unvaccinated counterparts, and adults were 41% to 55% less likely to be hospitalized.

What about those brain complications? Earlier this month, state health departments and hospitals warned doctors to watch for child flu patients with seizures, hallucinations or other signs of “influenza-associated encephalopathy or encephalitis” — and a more severe subtype called “acute necrotizing encephalopathy.” Encephalitis is brain inflammation.

Thursday, the CDC released an analysis of 1,840 child flu deaths since 2010, finding 166 with those neurologic complications. Most were unvaccinated. But the agency concluded it’s unclear if this year’s nine deaths with those complications — four of whom had the worse subtype — mark an uptick.

There’s no regular tracking of those neurologic complications, making it hard to find the answers. In California, Dr. Keith Van Haren of Stanford Medicine Children’s Health said earlier this month that he’d learned of about 15 flu-related cases of that severe subtype from doctors around the country and “we are aware or more cases that may also meet the criteria.” He did not say how many died.

O’Leary, with the pediatricians’ academy, said parents should remember this complication is rare — the advice remains to seek medical advice anytime a child with flu has unusual or concerning symptoms, such as labored breathing.

Doctors see more neurologic complications during severe flu seasons – they may be linked to particular influenza strains — and survivors can have ongoing seizures or other lingering problems, he said.

Meanwhile, vaccine makers already are gearing up for the months-long process of brewing next winter’s flu shots. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee was supposed to meet on March 13 to help choose which flu strains to include but with that meeting’s cancellation, it’s unclear if the government will decide on its own.

“We have historically worked really hard to get transparency around all of these vaccine discussions,” said O’Leary, who said it’s important for the public to understand what goes into making decisions about the flu vaccine composition and other vaccine recommendations.

“The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season,” Andrew Nixon, communications director for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email.

AP reporters JoNel Aleccia and Mike Stobbe contributed.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

​ Orange County Register 

Former defense chiefs call for congressional hearings on Trump’s firing of senior military leaders

• February 27, 2025

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five former secretaries of defense are calling on Congress to hold immediate hearings on President Donald Trump’s recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The five men — who represented Republican and Democratic administrations over the past three decades — said the dismissals were alarming, raised “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military” and removed legal constraints on the president’s power.

Late last week, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed that by firing Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations; Gen. Jim Slife, vice chief of the Air Force; and the judge advocates general for the military services.

Hegseth has defended the firing of Brown, saying that other presidents made changes in military personnel and that Trump deserves to pick his own team. Hegseth said he fired the JAGs because he didn’t think they were “well-suited” to provide recommendations when lawful orders are given.

The letter — signed by William Perry, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Jim Mattis and Lloyd Austin — said there were no real justifications for the firings because several of the officers had been nominated by Trump for previous positions. And it said they had exemplary careers, including operational and combat experience.

“We, like many Americans — including many troops — are therefore left to conclude that these leaders are being fired for purely partisan reasons,” said the letter, adding that “we’re not asking members of Congress to do us a favor; we’re asking them to do their jobs.”

In the meantime, they said, senators should refuse to confirm any new Pentagon nominations, including retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, who Trump has said should be the next joint chiefs chairman.

Trump’s choice of Caine is unusual. Caine, who is widely respected in the military, would have to come back onto active duty but he does not meet the legal requirements for the top post. According to law, a chairman must have served as a combatant commander or service chief. The president can waive those requirements.

Hagel is a Republican and Mattis, an independent, was Trump’s first defense chief. The other three are Democrats. Four of the five served in the military, including two — Mattis and Austin — who were four-star generals.

“The House and Senate should demand that the administration justify each firing and fully explain why it violated Congress’ legislative intent that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff complete a four-year term in office,” the letter said.

The chairman has a four-year term, and Brown had served a bit less than 17 months.

In recent decades, a number of three-star and four-star officers have been fired, but Pentagon leaders have routinely made clear why they were ousted. Those reasons included disagreements over the conduct of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, problems with the oversight of America’s nuclear arsenal and public statements critical of the president and other leaders.

​ Orange County Register 

Congress votes to kill Biden-era methane fee on oil and gas producers

• February 27, 2025

By MICHAEL PHILLIS and MATTHEW DALY

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Congress has voted to repeal a federal fee on oil and gas producers who release high levels of methane, undoing a major piece of former President Joe Biden’s climate policy aimed at controlling the planet-warming “super pollutant.” The fee, which had not gone into effect, was expected to bring in billions of dollars.

The Senate on Thursday voted along party lines 52-47 to repeal the fee, following a similar House vote on Wednesday. The measure now goes to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.

Methane is a much stronger global warming gas than carbon dioxide, especially in the short term, and is to blame for about one-third of the world’s warming so far. Oil and gas producers are among the biggest U.S. methane emitters and controlling it is critical to address climate change.

Most major oil and gas companies do not release enough methane to trigger the fee, which is $900 per ton, an amount that would increase to $1,500 by 2026. The measure was part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, but the Environmental Protection Agency didn’t formally set rules until late last year.

That timing made it vulnerable to the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to pass a resolution to undo rules that are finalized towards the end of a president’s term. If those resolutions pass and the president signs them, the rule is terminated and agencies can’t issue a similar one again.

“It’s a sorry testament to the influence of Big Oil on Capitol Hill that one of the top priorities of Congress is a blatant handout to the worst actors in the fossil fuel industry,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program.

The American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, applauded the move, calling the fee a “duplicative, punitive tax on American energy production that stifles innovation.”

“Thanks to industry action, methane emissions continue to decline as production increases, and we support building on this progress through smart and effective regulation,” said Amanda Eversole, the executive vice president and chief advocacy officer at API.

Globally, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have been steadily climbing.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who chairs the Senate’s Environment and Public Works committee, spoke in favor of repeal on the Senate floor.

“We should be expanding natural gas production, not restricting it. Instead, the natural gas tax will constrain American natural gas production, leading to increased energy prices and providing a boost to the production of natural gas in Russia,” she said.

Repeal of the methane fee is the latest of several pro-oil and gas moves Republicans have taken since the start of Trump’s term. On his first day, he declared a national energy emergency, calling for more oil and gas production, and fewer environmental reviews. Democrats failed to overturn that declaration yesterday. Trump has also lifted a pause on new applications for liquified natural gas export terminals, removed the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement and moved to open up more areas of public lands and waters for oil and gas drilling.

The fee on methane releases was aimed at pushing companies to adopt better practices to curb emissions and make their operations more efficient. Technology exists to prevent leaks and to fix them. The EPA had said the fee was expected to reduce 1.2 million metric tons of methane emissions by 2035 — that’s about the same as removing 8 million cars from the road for a year.

The Biden administration had also implemented methane regulations on existing oil and gas wells, after addressing methane escaping from new wells. The EPA at the time meant for the fee to complement that rule and focus on the worst polluters.

About half of all methane emissions from wells are from just 6% that are smaller producers, according to a recent study.

Phillis reported from St. Louis.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

​ Orange County Register 

Kings must recalibrate on the road after disjointed OT loss

• February 27, 2025

The Kings sought to bring their home-ice energy to Big D as they traveled to take on the Dallas Stars in Friday’s finale of the season series before they’ll dash on to St. Louis for Saturday’s showdown with the Blues.

Even on a night where they were disjointed, the Kings plied a point from the Vancouver Canucks at home on Wednesday. As for Dallas (37-19-2; 8-2-1 in its last 11), the team that had walloped the Kings in four straight meetings entering the year, it has lost both clashes with the Kings this season, 3-2 on Dec. 4 and 5-4 in Feb. 7’s barn-burner.

As was the case in February, Dallas will be without No. 1 defenseman Miro Heiskanen, veteran forward Tyler Seguin and rearguard Nils Lundqvist. The Kings’ top blue-liner Drew Doughty, who missed the first 47 games of the season with a broken ankle, is currently sidelined (day-to-day) by a different lower-body injury.

Kings coach Jim Hiller went to David Rittich in net Wednesday for his first nod since Feb. 8. Rittich played both games against Dallas – preferred starter Darcy Kuemper was injured once and on personal leave after the birth of his second child the other time – but seemed at least equally likely to get the call in St. Louis after a performance Hiller described as “just OK.”

Hiller offered a similar assessment of his entire group when asked if he felt there had been a drop-off in the team’s play in the three games (2-0-1) since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

“I don’t disagree with that at all. I would’ve liked to have seen us really come out and play a full 60 [minutes] and go, and we didn’t, there’s no question,” Hiller said. “We’ve gotten, probably, pretty good results. Probably tonight, we could’ve gotten two [points] and probably the other nights, maybe we didn’t deserve two. Maybe we could’ve got one or zero, you know what I mean? The results, you hope that they balance themselves a little bit, so the sting is probably a little bit less because of what we probably deserved, the other games, I’m not so sure. So we’ve got to play better, I agree.”

One early-season constant for the Kings that has been less dependable of late has been the duo of Anže Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, particularly the typically unwavering, unflappable Kings captain. After starting the season with a team-leading 39 points in 36 games and a +16 rating, Kopitar’s 20 games since the calendar turned have produced a solitary goal, six assists and a -6 rating. During that span, he tied for seventh in points on the team with the third-fewest goals in the NHL.

As the combo of Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield, the Kings’ two leading scorers since Dec. 15, heated up with Alex Laferriere, the Kings’ line blending teamed them with Kempe, who has appeared reinvigorated. In chunks of two games with Fiala and Byfield, Kempe has a goal and two assists, after a month that saw him have his two longest scoreless stretches of the campaign (six games and three games, respectively).

“I’ve played with Kopi for so long and we’ve just had a little bit of a drought for a couple weeks here, so I think it’s good sometimes to change things up,” Kempe said. “You get a little excited sometimes to play with some different guys and I think it’s good for both of us.”

Hiller said concretizing the Fiala-Byfield-Kempe trio was something his staff would “consider for sure,” though the 11-7 alignment he utilized during the homestand gave him flexibility to do more in-game mixing anyway.

When the Kings visit St. Louis, it’ll be the teams’ first meeting of the campaign. The Blues entered Thursday’s throwdown with the Washington Capitals on a four-game points streak (3-0-1) but hovered around a .500 points percentage anyway.

Kings at Dallas

When: 5 p.m. Friday

Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas

TV: FDSNW, Victory+

Kings at St. Louis

When: 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Enterprise Center, St. Louis

TV: KCAL (Ch. 9)

​ Orange County Register