Here’s how you can get free tickets to Day 1 of the Grand Prix of Long Beach

• February 25, 2025

It’s nearly time for one of Southern California’s biggest events: the Grand Prix of Long Beach — which is slated to be an even bigger party this year as the event celebrates its 50th anniversary.

And readers have a chance to get in on Southern California’s “200-mph beach party,” as the event’s been nicknamed — for free. All they have to do is read their local daily newspaper.

This year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will take place in downtown from April 11 to 13.

The Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, which organizes the event, has already announced several special additions meant to celebrate the weekend’s 50th anniversary — including a Saturday performance from rock band Foreigner and racing legends Mario Andretti and Al Unser Jr. as grand marshals.

“This year, we are celebrating our 50th anniversary,” association CEO and President Jim Michaelian said in a statement, “and what better way to join in the celebration by taking advantage of the FREE Friday ticket offer through the courtesy of the Southern California News Group.”

Tickets for the 50th Grand Prix of Long Beach are already on sale, with general admission tickets for the first day of the Grand Prix starting at $44.

But our readers can get their hands on a free general admission ticket for the first day of the Grand Prix — Friday, April 11 — by perusing a copy of one of the Southern California News Group’s 11 daily papers on select days.

“We’re grateful that the Southern California News Group and the folks at the Grand Prix are able to team up again this year to offer residents the chance to enjoy a free day of racing and all the other hoopla at the city’s biggest annual event,” Tom Bray, senior editor for SCNG’s Los Angeles County publications, the Southern California News Group. “And with this milestone anniversary, what a stellar year to enjoy this history-making edition of the race and all its accompanying festivities.”

The Free Friday promotion, which has a $44 value, will run inside SCNG’s daily newspapers on select days until April 5. The next opportunity to get the free ticket is Friday, Feb. 28.

With a couple of exceptions, the free tickets will appear in the papers on Fridays and Saturdays — usually in the sports section. The exceptions are Sunday, March 2, and March 12, which is a Wednesday.

You’ll be able to find the Free Friday promotion in any of Southern California News Group’s 11 daily newspapers, including:

• Long Beach Press-Telegram.
• Daily Breeze.
• Los Angeles Daily News.
• Pasadena Star-News.
• Whittier Daily News.
• San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
• Orange County Register.
• Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
• San Bernardino Sun.
• Riverside Press-Enterprise.
• Redlands Daily Facts.

“All of the racing events will be on track on Friday, as well as the IndyCar driver autograph session late in the afternoon,” Michaelian said. “In addition, there will be a concert Friday evening featuring DJ Duo ‘DVBBS’ in the Terrace Plaza. Truly a terrific value and it’s all free.”

For more about the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, visit gplb.com.

When to find Free Friday tickets

• Friday, Feb. 28 (sports section).
• Sunday, March 2 (sports section).
• Friday, March 7 (sports section).
• Wednesday, March 12 (main news section).
• Friday, March 14 (sports section).
• Saturday, March 15 (sports section).
• Friday, March 21 (sports section).
• Saturday, March 22 (main news section).
• Friday, March 28 (sports section).
• Saturday, March 29 (sports section).
• Friday, April 4 (sports section).
• Saturday, April 5 (main news section).

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Monica Seafood shutters Costa Mesa market, cafe

• February 25, 2025

Santa Monica Seafood closed its Costa Mesa market and cafe, saying goodbye in a social media post on Feb. 19.

For decades, the popular market and cafe was a go-to for all types of fresh seafood, from fish fillet to oysters to lobsters. Its cafe served some classic favorites including clam chowder, lobster rolls, crab cakes and fish and chips. A favorite on-the-go market snack featured brown-sugar-candied smoked salmon.

“For almost 30 years, we’ve served Costa Mesa. As we close our doors at this location, our hearts are filled with gratitude for your support throughout the years,” the company wrote. “This isn’t goodbye, it’s see you soon. We’d love to welcome you at our Santa Monica location.”

The closure at 154 E. 17th St. stunned longtime fans.

“Horrible news,” wrote Jennifer West. “This was by far more convenient than Santa Monica. This was the only place I respected to get seafood.”

The company, which has a Santa Monica store and headquarters 52 miles from Costa Mesa, could not be reached for comment on the closure.

Commenters on social media offered a tip to gift-card recipients: Use the company’s overnight shipping service rather than driving to Santa Monica. Users will need to create an account to set up seafood shipments.

That Santa Monica store, for those interested in making the trek, is at 1000 Wilshire Blvd., about 10 blocks from the beach and the 10 freeway.

In 2010 the company expanded the location in Costa Mesa, enlarging its cafe, oyster bar and deli section. The café sold items ranging from cioppino to sautéed scallops to oysters on the shell.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels assistant pitching coach Sal Fasano, a former catcher, brings new perspective to the job

• February 25, 2025

TEMPE, Ariz. — Logan O’Hoppe did not hold back when describing the impact he believes Sal Fasano will have on the collaboration of Angels pitchers and catchers.

“He has completely changed the game and made a night and day difference with how things have been going, with the game planning and the simplicity of it all,” the Angels catcher of the team’s new assistant pitching coach.

O’Hoppe then added that he’s not one to loosely toss around such superlatives: “I don’t give that out.”

Although spring training is the time for even the most downtrodden of teams to speak optimistically, the way that the Angels talk about Fasano goes beyond the normal cliches.

“Tremendous,” said catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who worked with Fasano for five years with the Atlanta Braves.

“Awesome, man. Unbelievable,” said right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who is getting to know him for the first time.

“A big impact,” said manager Ron Washington, who worked with Fasano in Atlanta. “He’s one of the best at preparing a game plan. He’s one of the best at implementing a game plan. … He’s a big addition to our staff and to our game planning.”

Fasano is not the traditional hire. Even though his title is “assistant pitching coach,” he was not a pitcher. Fasano was a catcher for 11 seasons in the big leagues — including playing two games with the 2002 Angels.

Immediately after his playing career, he began managing in the Toronto Blue Jays system. Eventually, the Blue Jays moved him into a role working with Blue Jays minor league pitchers. Angels general manager Perry Minasian was working in the Blue Jays’ front office at the time.

After Minasian moved on to the Braves, Fasano followed. This time he landed a job on the big league staff working with pitchers and catchers.

“Pitching coaches who were pitchers, they talk to them like they were a pitcher,” Fasano said. “I get a chance to talk to them like a catcher, with the perspective of hitting. I wasn’t that great of a hitter.”

Fasano hit .221 with 47 homers, although one of them was a legendary monster blast that broke a window at the Oakland Coliseum.

In his roles at the plate and squatting behind it, Fasano knew plenty about the way pitchers got hitters out.

Since he’s been coaching in the big leagues, his job has been to help pitchers learn how to use their stuff most effectively.

“You literally have the battery, the pitching coach and the catching coach, or me, game plan guy, talking to a pitcher with both directions,” Fasano said. “One from the back, one from the front, with a hitter’s perspective too. So I think it adds a little bit of uniqueness to it.”

Fasano said in Atlanta he took the game plan devised by the Braves analytics team and helped to translate it into a simple, actionable, plan for the catcher. With the eyes of a former big leaguer, Fasano said he can also tell from the dugout when the pregame plan needs to be adjusted.

“It’s like Mike Tyson said, ‘Everybody’s got a plan till they get punched in the face,’” Fasano said. “A lot of times that happens in the first, second, third inning. Sometimes it’s not till late, but having the ability to adjust on the fly is really, I think, the separator. At least it was for us in Atlanta. I don’t know how it’s gonna go here. I’m hoping it’s the same thing.

“Everybody has great information. It’s just the application part. And then when can we adjust from it. So if we have to adjust, we adjust. We’re trying to teach the kids. What if you don’t have your best pitch? What are you gonna do? You can’t just suck your thumb on the mound and start crying. You gotta find a way to compete and understand how your other stuff plays, too.”

Angels pitchers did not perform well, as a group, last year. Their 4.56 ERA ranked 25th in the majors. They walked 3.8 per nine innings (29th). To that mix they’ve added veterans Yusei Kikuchi, Kenley Jansen and Hendricks.

Those pitchers are all on the other side of 30, so their performances alone aren’t likely to turn the Angels into a playoff-caliber pitching staff. The bigger boost, the Angels hope, will be getting more out of the young pitchers.

And a large part of that involves Fasano.

“He’s going to bring out the best in a lot of people,” d’Arnaud said. “He’s very good at analogies and teaching people so they understand a certain idea. He’s very good at relating to the player, which is ultimately the sign of a good teacher.”

So far, Fasano likes the students he’s got.

“When I saw the arms we have, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m in the right place,’” Fasano said. “I was super excited to be here. … The city of Anaheim really could use a winner. It’s been a while. Hopefully we get them to the playoffs. I’m expecting to go to the playoffs.”

BACHMAN STALLED

Right-hander Sam Bachman said he’s currently “working through a little bit of stuff,” so he’s not sure when he’ll be able to pitch in Cactus League games. He said he’s “not sure” if he’ll need to seek further medical opinions.

Bachman, the Angels’ first-round pick in 2021, has endured a series of physical issues in his young pro career, from a back problem in 2022 to shoulder surgery in 2023. Last season Bachman pitched just 61 ⅔ innings in the minors, and none in the majors. He was initially scheduled to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, but the Angels decided to have him rest.

At the start of camp, Bachman said he was feeling good, and he’d lost about 15 pounds.

NOTES

Manager Ron Washington was away from the team for a second straight day because of the illness that has ripped through the clubhouse. Coaches Ryan Goins and Jayson Nix were also out on Tuesday. Bench coach Ray Montgomery filled in for Washington at the game on Tuesday afternoon. …

Right-hander Jack Kochanowicz is also sick, putting his scheduled start on Thursday in question. Caden Dana, who pitched the same day as Kochanowicz the first time through the rotation, would be the most obvious choice to start on Thursday if Kochanowicz can’t.

​ Orange County Register 

‘Farewell tour’ for Rosary girls basketball coach Richard Yoon reaches CIF-SS finals

• February 25, 2025

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Richard Yoon’s “farewell tour” as Rosary’s girls basketball coach will make a special stop in Ontario on Friday.

For the fourth time in his storied career, Yoon will guide the Royals into a CIF-SS championship game. Rosary (18-12) plays Rolling Hills Prep (20-8) in the Division 2A final at Toyota Arena at 2 p.m.

Yoon, 54, has said this season is “probably” his last at the helm as he focuses on his new job as the principal at St. Bonaventure Catholic School in Huntington Beach.

“It’s an incredible farewell experience,” Yoon said of the upcoming section final. “I’m just glad for this team because they’re young but they’re experiencing something that a lot teams will never do.”

“You get into the business because of the kids,” he added. “You don’t really get care about the wins and losses. But this definitely builds a community.”

Yoon has been cherishing his relationships on his “farewell tour.” In his 31st season at Rosary, he has enjoyed connecting with referees and his former standout players such as Asia Avinger and Becky Obinma.

Avinger, now playing college basketball at Georgia, recently called to congratulate Yoon while Obinma attended the team’s semifinal victory Saturday.

This season, Yoon has teamed with his heir apparent, Leslie Aragon, and assistant coach Mike Roberts to mold a team a team that starts four sophomores and a junior.

Yoon has seen growth from a squad featuring sophomores Isabella Holmes, Riyanna Meaders, his daughter Kylie, Sophie Lickl and Maddie White and junior forward Kate Duarte, who is averaging 13.3 points and 10.8 rebounds in the playoffs.

The Royals received an at-large berth in Division 2A after finishing fourth in the Pacific Coast League, which produced Open Division qualifier Sage Hill and Division 2AA semifinalist Portola.

“We’re very young and sometimes we do some very young things, but overall our defense has always been our signature,” Yoon said. “The shooting is sometimes inconsistent, but lately in the playoffs, we’re starting to make it all click.”

“Like I always say, you just got to play your best basketball in February or March,” added Yoon, who has led Rosary to two section titles (1999, 2017), two state championships (2017, 2019) and three CIF SoCal Regional crowns.

Yoon, who played basketball at Gahr, enters Friday with 574 victories, which ranks him fourth in county history. The Royals will advance to the regional playoffs next week.

“Rosary and St. Bonaventure have been amazing accommodating (my schedule this season),” he said. “I’ll miss coaching but I’ve had more than a fun, great career.”

NOTES

Mater Dei guard Devyn Kiernan, who was hurt against Fairmont Prep on Feb. 19, didn’t play at Etiwanda in the Open Division semifinals Saturday. The senior’s status going toward the regional is “day to day,” Monarchs coach Jody Wynn said. …

Adyra Rajan scored 24 points and Sarah Aldeguer had 23 as Fairmont Prep beat Windward 69-54 in its pool play finale for the first Open Division win in school history.

​ Orange County Register 

White House says it ‘will determine’ which news outlets cover Trump, rotating traditional ones

• February 25, 2025

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press

The White House said Tuesday that its officials “will determine” which news outlets can regularly cover President Donald Trump up close — a sharp break from a century of tradition in which a pool of independently chosen news organizations go where the chief executive does and hold him accountable on behalf of regular Americans.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the changes would rotate traditional outlets from the group and include some streaming services. Leavitt cast the change as a modernization of the press pool, saying the move would be more inclusive and restore “access back to the American people” who elected Trump. But media experts said the move raised troubling First Amendment issues because the president is choosing who covers him.

“The White House press team, in this administration, will determine who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access in spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office,” Leavitt said at a daily briefing. She added at another point: “A select group of D.C.-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly of press access at the White House.”

Leavitt said the White House will “double down” on its decision to bar The Associated Press from many presidential events, a departure from the time-tested and sometimes contentious practice for more than a century of a pool of journalists from every platform sharing the presidents’ words and activities with news outlets and congressional offices that can’t attend the close-quarter events. Traditionally, the members of the pool decide who goes in small spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One.

“It’s beyond time that the White House press operation reflects the media habits of the American people in 2025, not 1925,” Leavitt said.

There are First Amendment implications

The change said one expert on presidents and the press, “is a dangerous move for democracy.”

”It means the president can pick and choose who covers the executive branch, ignoring the fact that it is the American people who through their taxes pay for the running of the White House, the president’s travels and the press secretary’s salary,” Jon Marshall, a media history professor at Northwestern University and author of “Clash: Presidents and the Press in Times of Crisis.”

Eugene Daniels, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said the organization consistently expands its membership and pool rotations to facilitate the inclusion of new and emerging outlets.

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president,” Daniels said in a statement. “In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

It comes in the context of a federal lawsuit

Leavitt spoke a day after a federal judge refused to immediately order the White House to restore the AP’s access to many presidential events. The news outlet, citing the First Amendment, sued Leavitt and two other White House officials for barring the AP from some presidential events over its refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” as Trump ordered. AP has said its style would retain the “Gulf of Mexico” name but also would note Trump’s decision.

U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden said said the AP had not demonstrated it had suffered irreparable harm. But he urged the Trump administration to reconsider its two-week-old ban, saying that case law in the circuit “is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.”

McFadden’s decision was only for the moment, however. He told attorneys for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling. Another hearing was scheduled for late March.

The AP Stylebook is used by international audiences as well as those within the United States. The AP has said that its guidance was offered to promote clarity.

Another Trump executive order to change the name of the United States’ largest mountain back to Mount McKinley from Denali is being recognized by the AP Stylebook. Trump has the authority to do so because the mountain is completely within the country he oversees, AP has said.

​ Orange County Register 

Judge extends block on Trump administration’s sweeping freeze on federal funding

• February 25, 2025

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed Tuesday to continue blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from freezing grants and loans potentially totaling trillions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction requested by groups representing thousands of nonprofits and small businesses. It’s the first such order since the Trump administration announced a sweeping pause on federal aid, stirring up a wave of confusion and anxiety across the U.S.

The judge said the administration “cannot pretend that the nationwide chaos and paralysis from two weeks ago is some distant memory with no bearing on this case.”

“The relief Plaintiffs now seek is a more durable version of the relief they sought then, when their members were on the brink of extinction,” AliKhan wrote. “In sum, Plaintiffs have marshalled significant evidence indicating that the funding freeze would be economically catastrophic — and in some circumstances, fatal — to their members.”

The administration rescinded a memo outlining its planned funding freeze after AliKhan temporarily blocked it earlier this month. A second judge in Rhode Island also issued a temporary restraining order blocking any pause in federal spending pause in a separate lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen states.

Last month, the White House said it would temporarily halt federal funding to ensure that the payments complied with Trump’s agenda. Government lawyers argued that the court lacks the constitutional authority to block a funding pause.

Organizations represented by the advocacy group Democracy Forward argued that the funding freeze violates their First Amendment rights.

Some groups initially said they couldn’t access promised federal funding even after the memo was rescinded. During a hearing last Thursday, however, plaintiffs’ attorney Kevin Friedl said the earlier temporary restraining order has “shown its value.”

“Funds have been unfrozen.” he told the judge.

Justice Department attorney Daniel Schwei argued against the preliminary injunction. He said it is an “inherently speculative proposition” that the administration might try again to freeze funding.

​ Orange County Register 

Blaming everyone but herself, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass needs to go

• February 25, 2025

There was one thing about Mayor Karen Bass that always impressed me. She had a keen awareness of cameras and an uncanny ability to keep a pleasant smile on her face, continuously, for unusually long periods of time. That prevents photographers from capturing an instant of anger or awkwardness that can resurface forever as an illustration of a politician in trouble.

But it’s not working for her now. The recent interview she gave to Fox 11’s Elex Michaelson is like something out of a Disneyland ride, a smiling plastic character having an adventure.

“While the city was burning,” Bass smiled, “and right after the fires were barely put out” – here she squeezed her eyelids in a cute twinkle – “we moved into rains, and mudslides. And during all that time, I did not think the focus should be on me.” Nodding and still smiling, she continued, “I thought the focus should be on the city and on the people who were suffering.”

In “All that Jazz,” the film about legendary Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse, there’s a scene where actor Roy Scheider, playing Fosse, barks at dancers, “Stop smiling! It’s not the high school play.”

Good advice, especially if you’re a mayor who was warned by your fire chief that your budget cuts would have a severe impact on your fire department’s ability to respond to wildfires and major emergencies, and then you fired your fire chief for making you look bad.

“Although there were warnings, that I frankly wasn’t aware of,” Bass smiled with her crinkle-twinkle, “although there were warnings, I think our preparation wasn’t what it typically is.” Then she cheerfully described the more extensive preparation for the recent rains.

Elex Michaelson asked, “But what do you mean there were warnings that you weren’t aware of, because I know we were talking about it on the news, a lot of people were talking about the problems.”

Nodding and smiling, Bass responded, “From the city, from the county, that level of preparation really didn’t happen. So it didn’t reach that level to me, to say something terrible could happen, and maybe you shouldn’t have gone on the trip.”

“Why didn’t it happen?” Michaelson asked.

“I don’t know!” Bass exclaimed with wide eyes, as if she was doing a Q&A in a pre-K classroom. “I mean, I think that’s one of the things we need to look at.”

This is her defense for flying to Ghana on January 4, two days after the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned of very high winds and extreme fire danger coming up January 7-9.

Now-former L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is on record telling the Board of Fire Commissioners in December that the mayor’s $17.5 million in cuts to the L.A. Fire Department’s budget, including a $7 million reduction in “overtime variable staffing hours,” had “severely limited” the LAFD’s capacity to respond to wildfires and other large-scale emergencies.

In the same budget, Bass gave her strongest support to salary increases for the city’s civilian employee unions, projected to cost $316 million the first year and $1 billion in 2028.

Bass is also responsible for hiring, at a salary of $750,000 per year, the DEI-spouting head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Janisse Quiñones, who could have been overseeing repairs to reservoirs and hydrants but in July was telling a radio station, “It’s important to me that everything we do, it’s with an equity lens and social justice, and making sure we right the wrongs that we’ve done in the past from an infrastructure perspective.”

And let’s not forget Deputy Mayor Brian Williams, hired by Bass in March 2023 to work closely with public safety departments, including LAFD. He wasn’t on the job in January because he was placed on administrative leave in December after the FBI raided his home. Williams allegedly called in a bomb threat to City Hall.

“I will tell you that I felt absolutely terrible not being here for my city,” Bass told Michaelson with a cheerful and reassuring smile, before affirming that she is running for re-election in 2026.

Voters should take a cue from Bob Fosse and invite her to leave the theater immediately.

Write [email protected] and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register 

Warner Bros. shutters 3 video-game studios, 2 in Southern California

• February 25, 2025

By Jason Schreier | Bloomberg

Warner Bros. Discovery is closing three video-game studios and halting work on a highly anticipated Wonder Woman title in a bid to boost the profitability of its interactive entertainment business.

Kirkland, Wash.-based Monolith Productions, Player First Games in Los Angeles and Warner Bros. Games San Diego are being shuttered, according to a memo to staff viewed by Bloomberg News.

The cuts reflect a refocusing of the games division on major franchises such as Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones and DC Comics, primarily Batman.

“The quality of too many of our new releases has really missed the mark,” JB Perrette, head of games and streaming for Warner Bros., wrote in the memo. “We need to make some substantial changes to our portfolio/team structure if we are to commit the necessary resources to get back to a ‘fewer but bigger franchises’ strategy.”

In a statement to Bloomberg, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. Games said the shutdowns were “not a reflection of these teams or the talent that consists within them.”

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the Wonder Woman game was in trouble and that the Warner Bros. Games unit was facing a difficult 2025 following the underperformance of last year’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, MultiVersus and Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. Current and former employees blamed the weak slate on indecisiveness and a lack of vision under president David Haddad, who stepped down in January.

Monolith had been making video games since 1994 including cult classics such as The Operative: No One Lives Forever and F.E.A.R. In 2014, it received critical acclaim for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, an action game set in The Lord of the Rings universe.

Player First Games was purchased by Warner Bros. last July, just before the release of its sole game, MultiVersus. Last month, Warner Bros. said it was shutting down that title following poor performance.

​ Orange County Register