Anaheim hits 100 degrees on Tuesday, marking 4th straight day of record-breaking heat

• October 7, 2026

Anaheim marked a fouth straight day of record heat on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The city saw a high temperature of 100 degrees on Tuesday, exceeding the previous daily record of 99 degrees set in 2005, said National Weather Service meteorologist Philip Gonsalves.

Burbank also dethroned a record, reaching 101 degrees to replace a record temperature of 100 degrees set in 1964, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Kristan Lund.

A weekend cool-down is on the way, both Lund and Gonsalves said. Gonsalves said Orange County should expect a noticeable temperature decrease on Friday, with inland areas to follow during the weekend.

“Slowly but surely the marine layer will make a return right to the coast and it will extend the lower temperatures a little further inland,” Gonsalves said.

Sunday and Monday might bring intermittent rain to areas across Southern California, Gonsalves said. There is also a chance of coastal flooding and high surf over the weekend, according to Lund.

​ Orange County Register 

USC football prepares for Penn State ‘White Out’ game at full volume

• October 7, 2026

LOS ANGELES — The trumpets of the Trojan Marching Band were blaring on one side of McClintock Avenue. The football team’s new sound system was competing for airspace on the other side of the street, belting out crowd noise.

A remix of “Circle of Life” cut through the air one minute and the next, it was an overwhelmingly loud “We are Penn State” call-and-answer chant.

“It’s pretty awesome,” tight end Carson Tabaracci said of the sound system. “It really just makes us focus more on our jobs, whatever we’ve got to do on a certain play and just locking in because it’s going to be a great crowd on Saturday night.”

No. 19 USC (5-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) travels to State College this weekend to play Penn State (3-2, 0-2) in the Nittany Lions’ annual “White Out” game – a program first for the Trojans.

It’s considered one of the toughest playing environments in college football inside a stadium that boasts a capacity of 106,572. The game has not been announced as a sellout yet, but it sounds like the Trojans are prepared for the extreme.

Reporters are not allowed in the practice area during the season, making it difficult to assess the actual volume of USC’s sound system. It was, however, difficult to hold a conversation just outside the practice facility due to the noise.

Loud environments can lead to communication difficulties between players, especially defensive players who shout instructions to each other to make sure assignments and alignments are understood.

Tabaracci pointed to last season’s ‘Black Out’ game at Nebraska – which had an attendance of 86,529 – as a tough playing environment, and freshman Ethan “Boobie” Feaster has drawn on his experience as a high school football player in Texas.

Feaster said he played in front of crowds of as many as 50,000 while at De Soto High School.

“It’s college football,” Feaster said. “I know it’s different from high school, but I mean, for me, it’s never really been a factor, how loud a place is. I just make sure I know what I’m doing. I know the little details and know what I’m supposed to do. I know everybody else on my team is going to do their 1/11th.”

USC head coach Lincoln Riley is emphasizing Saturday’s playing environment with careful intention.

“The place has a really good reputation in terms of the atmosphere and some of the challenges that it provides,” Riley said.

“I don’t think you need to be consumed by it. You can overdo something like that, but also, we’re not gonna act like we’re not going into something that is going to be a little bit different, or this is going to provide some challenges. And it’s going to be awesome.”

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

USC defensive end Luke Wafle was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday. Wafle had five tackles, two tackles for loss and his first career sack in Saturday’s 25-21 victory over Washington.

The Trojans’ defense stepped up in the final moments of the game, and Wafle played a big part. He tackled Huskies quarterback Demond Williams on back-to-back plays in Washington’s second-to-last drive of the game and also sacked Williams for a loss of two yards with 3:51 left in the game.

TMB ON ‘WoF’

The USC Trojan Marching Band was the cold open alongside Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White for Monday’s episode of “Wheel of Fortune”, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl.

The band has performed at the Hollywood Bowl every year since 1983 and, on Monday, performed the long-running game show’s theme song alongside USC Spirit Leaders and Song Leaders.

​ Orange County Register 

Study hard! UCLA prepping for both Oregon quarterbacks

• October 7, 2026

LOS ANGELES — UCLA is prepping for both Oregon quarterbacks Dylan Raiola and Dante Moore this week. Whether Moore will play in Saturday’s Big Ten showdown in Eugene remains to be seen after he suffered a concussion from a helmet-to-helmet hit from USC linebacker Desman Stephens II on Sept. 26.

Both No. 13 Oregon (3-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) and No. 21 UCLA (4-0, 2-0) are coming off their bye weeks, but the Bruins are waiting to see if Moore is healthy enough to line up against them or if Raiola and Moore will each take snaps.

Raiola was 19 for 25 for 289 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions when he came on in relief of Moore in the 41-27 victory over USC. Moore has completed 69.7% of his passes this season for 926 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions.

“They are both similar,” UCLA coach Bob Chesney said. “Neither of them are putting the ball down and running around a whole lot. Just two different style of balls that are coming out of their own hands. They can both execute their offense at a really high level. They are both very good football players. You can’t think about who’s going to be out there or not. You have to prepare for both. They are still going to give the ball to the running backs. They are still going to give the ball to the tight end. They are still going to take their shots and find their matchups with their two receivers.”

The Oregon fight song blared over loudspeakers during UCLA’s practice on Tuesday morning in Westwood, as Chesney attempts to recreate the atmosphere his players will encounter when they visit Autzen Stadium this weekend.

“The Cal game was a good start for us,” Chesney said in preparing for the road environment. “Obviously, it’ll be a little bit of a step up. At the same time, we are doing everything we can to deal with noise. We are playing a football game out there 11-on-11 and what’s happening on the outside can’t affect what we are doing on the inside.”

UCLA worked some of its Wildcat offense while senior quarterback Nico Iamaleava threw the ball accurately during the live session. Iamaleava targeted seniors Landon Ellis, Semaj Morgan, Brayden Loftin and junior Russell Weir.

“We need his best, and we need everybody’s best,” Chesney said. “It’s not just any one guy. A lot of it goes through (Iamaleava). He’s done a phenomenal job up to this point of getting everyone into the play calls and handling his business the right way. Protection, keeping himself safe, and getting the ball out quickly. Doing all the things he needs to do, and he’s got to be spot on come Saturday. It’s day one, day two of the new stuff, and he’s done a good job up to this point.”

​ Orange County Register 

Kings unveil their Hall of Fame before home opener

• October 7, 2026

LOS ANGELES — While the Lakers have the majority of championship banners in the rafters and statues in Star Plaza, the Kings are still the primary tenants at Crypto.com Arena.

Now, there’s another reminder of that fact right by the Team LA store, where the Kings unveiled their Hall of Fame before kicking off their 60th anniversary season’s home schedule on Tuesday.

Several Kings alumni were on hand for the event. Inductees Dave Taylor and Luc Robitaille were joined by Jarret Stoll, Alex Martinez, Matt Greene, Bernie Nicholls, Jim Fox and Darryl Evans, as well as iconic broadcaster Bob Miller and longtime athletic trainer Peter Demers.

In addition to plaques with the faces of the 11 honorees – Demers, Miller, Taylor, Robitaille, Rob Blake, Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, Anže Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Butch Goring and Rogie Vachon – there were relics from every era of the Expansion Six franchise’s history.

There were the sticks of all three members of the Triple Crown Line displayed below game-used jerseys from Taylor, Dionne, Vachon, Kopitar and “Mr. Game 7” himself, 2014 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Justin Williams. Blake’s skates were on display, as were Ziggy Palffy’s, along with a variety of milestone pucks from Robitaille’s prolific career.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s been 60 years. I was there for 30 of them,” Taylor said. “It’s really neat that they’re honoring the Hall-of-Fame players, and not just players but trainers, broadcasters and people with the organization.”

FUTURE INDUCTEES

As general manager, Taylor drafted two of the current Kings Hall of Famers, Kopitar and Brown. It’s not difficult to envision a third player he selected, goalie and 2012 Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick, joining the group.

Current captain Drew Doughty seems like an eventual lock as well, with other players like Williams and his teammate Jeff Carter among the stronger candidates behind those two.

“There’s been a lot of great players and there are a lot of deserving people that’ll get that opportunity,” Taylor said.

SENIOR DISCOUNTS ABOUND

Taylor, who was the Kings’ GM prior to Dean Lombardi’s tenure, now works as a scout for the St. Louis Blues. They have a new GM, a new staff of assistant coaches and plenty of new players as the team got decidedly younger over the summer.

That wasn’t the case for the Kings, who went from being the league’s second-oldest bunch to its oldest. They added 39-year-old Mats Zuccarello after 38-year-old Kopitar retired, and lured 41-year-old Corey Perry back to the fold after a sojourn in Tampa Bay last spring.

Taylor was getting his first look at the 2026-27 Kings on Tuesday, but he felt free to state the obvious.

“They have a veteran team,” he said.

​ Orange County Register 

Mexico ends 4-game international window winless after loss to Chile

• October 7, 2026

LOS ANGELES — The Mexican national team closed the door on the October international window on Tuesday and the group might also want to close the windows.

Mexico, which was winless in the first three games over this stretch, suffered its second straight shutout loss, falling to Chile, 2-0, on Tuesday night in front 56,529 at the L.A. Coliseum.

Chile’s Maximiliano Gutiérrez opened the scoring in the 54th minute and Vicente Pizarro scored the other goal in the 65th minute.

To add even more context, these are the first games under new coach and legendary Mexican defender Rafael Marquez. An assistant under Javier Aguirre for the World Cup this summer, Marquez was promoted to the lead coaching spot at the conclusion of the tournament in July.

“The dream is over, but we are closer to the big teams,” Aguirre, who had three stints as Mexico’s coach, said during his farewell press conference.

The question after this 0-2-2 exhibition showing under Marquez is whether that statement still rings true.

Mexico recorded consecutive 1-1 draws against Colombia (Sept. 26) and Peru (Sept. 29), then suffered a 3-0 loss to the United States on Saturday. Then came Tuesday’s disappointing result against Chile.

Marquez is one of the best to ever put on a Mexican jersey. He played in five World Cups and finished his career with 147 national team appearances.

He started his coaching career with Barcelona’s B team, before joining Aguirre’s staff for the World Cup. So far, in the main seat, things haven’t gone smoothly.

Marquez entered the game already just the second Mexican national team coach to go winless in his first three games. The first was Manuel Lapuente in 1997. That was at the start of Lapuente’s second tenure, which ended in 2000.

Chile finished last in South American World Cup qualifying and had a rocky start to the current international window, losing to Canada (1-0) on Sept. 26 and the U.S. (4-2) on Sept. 29.

Mexican teenage star Gilberto Mora, currently with Club Tijuana, returned to the club before the game against the U.S. due to an ankle injury. The youngest player at this summer’s World Cup, the 17-year-old Mora is highly coveted by all of the top European clubs, with a move all but a certainty once he turns 18, which is next week.

Galaxy forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano missed the past two games and departed national team camp after suffering a hamstring injury.

The night started on a good and emotional note for Mexico as former goalkeeper Memo Ochoa was honored before the game. Ochoa, who played on six World Cup teams, including the most recent one, recently retired from professional soccer. He made 154 appearances for the national team, spanning 2010-2026. Ochoa was given two jerseys with his name and number and a plaque.

Mexico will next gather for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals in November.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers back Yoshinobu Yamamoto with homers, take 2-1 lead in NLDS

• October 7, 2026

ATLANTA — As the postseason approached, Max Muncy reflected on the Dodgers’ championship runs the past two seasons, so reliant on heroic performances by their pitching staff.

“It would be nice to slug our way to a World Series one of these years,” he said, manifesting with tongue in cheek.

They kinda are.

Kiké Hernandez and Freddie Freeman hit home runs off of Chris Sale, giving enough run support for the standard-issue postseason start by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1, on Tuesday night.

The Dodgers will try to close out the best-of-five National League Division Series on Wednesday night at Truist Park with Tyler Glasnow scheduled to start Game 4.

“We needed a little bit of that Kiké dust,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

The Dodgers’ offense has been kind of dusty in these three games.

So far in this series, the Dodgers have redefined the location of ‘scoring position.’ Officially, it means there is a runner on second or third base. They are hitless in this series (0 for 13) in those situations, but their first 10 runs in this series have all scored on the seven home runs. Ten runs all on home runs is the longest streak to start a postseason series in MLB history.

“I mean, if we win who cares, you know?” Hernandez said. “We’ve got to find ways to score and when you’re facing aces it’s really hard to put a lot of singles, a lot of hits together in one inning. … The majority of the time in October, especially I don’t know the last five years or so, I feel like the longball is – it’s not our approach but homers are runs and runs come at a premium. Especially when you’re facing an ace. It’s just really hard to rally against aces.

“The whole point of the game is to score more runs than the other team. If we do it by bunting people over great. If we do it by homers, great. The whole point of this game is to score runs. The fact that we’ve done it by the longball is just what’s happening in the moment.”

Sale struck out six Dodgers in the first two innings. But it was a stressed Sale.

The Dodgers put two runners on in the first inning, got another to second base in the second inning and loaded the bases in the third inning when Shohei Ohtani reached base with two outs on a catcher’s interference.

Freeman nearly got to Sale in that third inning when he sent a drive over the wall in left field – but Maurico Dubón reached over the top of the fence and caught it, robbing Freeman of a home run.

None of those situations resulted in runs thanks to the Dodgers’ struggles with RISP hitting. But it forced Sale to work. He threw 24 pitches in the first inning, 18 more in the second and 20 in the third, putting him at 62 through three innings.

In his complete-game shutout of the Dodgers in August, Sale didn’t throw his 62nd pitch until the sixth inning.

“It certainly speaks to the experience, the buy-in, because if you don’t get results when you’re committed to kind of grinding, sometimes it’s easy to come off of that,” Roberts said. “But I thought tonight from start to finish we did a good job of grinding.

“And it speaks to how important this game was.”

The Dodgers took advantage in the fourth inning. Andy Pages led off with a single – the third time in four innings the Dodgers put their leadoff hitter on base.

Two batters later, the most dangerous .222 hitter October will see stepped to the plate. Kiké Hernandez got a changeup in at his knees and was all over it, sending it 406 feet into the seats for his 17th career postseason home run. Two batters later, Freeman got the home run Dubón stole from him, sending this drive out of reach in the right field seats this time.

The home runs came from two of the most prolific postseason performers in MLB. Freeman’s home run was the 18th of his postseason career (tied for second among active players). For Hernandez, it was his 17th in his franchise record 94th postseason game.

“It’s something I take a lot of pride in but don’t really think about it too much,” Hernandez said. “It’s something that once I’m done playing I’m going to look back on and be really proud of because the way my career has gone in terms of finding myself each and every year in October. Experience helps a lot. Experience helps a lot with the heartbeat. Experience helps with the night before, the drives in.”

Experience and preparation – catcher Will Smith called him “more prepared than anybody” when he gets in the lineup – helped him in the at-bat against Sale (a teammate for parts of three seasons in Boston).

“My mentality was to grind him out because I feel like that was the first time all night the first two batters kind of ended their at-bats early,” Hernandez said. “Pages did a great job getting on base. Tucker put a good swing on it and the ball went right to Ozzie (Albies). I felt hitting at the bottom of the lineup my responsibility was to not chase him around, not give in to what he was trying to get me to do which was roll over and hit into a double play.

“So my mentality was to grind out the at-bat, try to get a good pitch to hit. If not, just be patient so I could turn the lineup over to Mookie at the top. He doubled up on the changeup. So he kind of showed me where the changeup was going to start for a ball then the next pitch my eyes recognized it popped and I was lucky I put a good swing on it.”

The three-run power burst gave the Dodgers a lead to protect behind Yamamoto – who lost just one start during the regular season in which the Dodgers scored at least three runs and has never lost a postseason game in which he pitched and the Dodgers scored at least three runs.

His first start delayed by Dodgers’ machinations until Game 3, Yamamoto simply picked up where he left off last October.

While Sale was under pressure, Yamamoto’s first four innings were largely stress-free. He retired 12 of the first 14 Braves batters, allowing a bunt single in the second inning and another single in the fourth. Neither runner made it to second base.

He wobbled slightly in the fifth, giving up back-to-back singles to Dubón and Lane Thomas then walking pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez to load the bases with one out. A run scored on a ground out before Yamamoto escaped the inning.

The Braves didn’t get another baserunner against Yamamoto, who retired the final eight batters he faced and struck out  a postseason career-high 10 in his seven innings. He is now 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in his postseason career.

“He was on,” Smith said. “He had all his pitches working. He was mixing, changing speeds, going in, going out. Kind of just had everything going and (was) really keeping them off balance.”

Tanner Scott and Edwin Diaz closed it out, Diaz returning to the closer role in a save situation for the first time since Aug. 14 and working around a leadoff double by Ozzie Albies in the ninth.

​ Orange County Register 

Xavier Becerra’s family history becomes the right’s pettiest Hail Mary

• October 7, 2026

With ballots out, the latest controversy is over whether Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra is the son of immigrants or merely the son of an immigrant.

At issue are statements made by Becerra about his family history. “My parents came to California with $12 in their pocket. They lived the California dream,” he said in the only debate of the general election season. He has also referred to himself as the “son of immigrants.”

One apparent hole in this, as raised by right-wingers who discovered how to Google, is that Becerra’s dad was actually born in Sacramento, then taken by his family to Mexico, and then went back and forth across the border working various jobs. It’s a story familiar to any Mexican American. He ultimately married Becerra’s mother—originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco — and the couple went to Tijuana before coming to America. Becerra’s mother is a legit immigrant no matter the definition, so he is definitionally the son of an immigrant for sure.

Speaking of definitions, to be tedious about it, I pulled up Merriam-Webster and looked up the definition of immigrant: “a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.” Now, maybe Merriam-Webster is woke, but that definition seems to work for Becerra’s dad. So did Dictionary.com’s definition, which is: “a person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence.”

Now, obviously, dictionary definitions don’t necessarily fit perfectly onto how words are actually used or thought about. And there’s something about those definitions that seems overbroad because they seem to leave out the normal association of an immigrant being someone who was born in x country and then going to another.

On the other hand, if we’re going with that idea in mind, it seems like if Becerra’s dad was born in one country (America) and went to another (Mexico), he is indeed an immigrant. To Mexico, yes, but definitionally he had engaged in immigration in his life. If that sounds like I’m playing word games, you’re right, but that’s mainly because this seems like a goofy thing for Republicans to make their stand on and this whole debate is a frivolous distraction.

Xavier Becerra is definitely the son of one undisputed immigrant and the U.S.-born-but-Mexican-raised-son-of-Mexicans-who-crossed-borders. His shorthand is functionally adequate even if it invites hairsplitting objections. He could just say he’s the son of Mexicans or a proud Mexican American, but I get he wants that “son of immigrants” line and he’s really, really close to qualifying without objection.

In any case, I’m less interested in whether his dad counts as an immigrant and more interested in how he knows his parents had $12 in their pocket. What point in time did they have $12? Why $12? Was it actually $11.55? Is that inflation adjusted? Did they actually have U.S. dollars? Or is the $12 in their pockets figurative and they had a couple hundred bucks or something? Did they also have pesos? Was it actually all in pesos?

Anyway, if this is where the California gubernatorial race is, we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

This week’s bestsellers at Southern California’s independent bookstores

• October 7, 2026

The Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Bestsellers List for the week ended Oct. 4 is based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association. For an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.org.

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Threshing Day (Wing and Claw Collection) (The Empyrean): Rebecca Yarros

2. Exit Party: Emily St. John Mandel

3. American Hagwon: Min Jin Lee

4. Hollywood, Ending: John Green

5. The Disappearers: Marlon James

6. Switzy: Emma Cline

7. The French Illusion (The French Illusion Series): John Grisham

8. Whistler: Ann Patchett

9. Taipei Story (Deluxe Limited Edition): R. F. Kuang

10. The Radiance: Ayad Akhtar

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Roll the Calls: A Memoir: Ari Emanuel

2. An Unexpected Life: A Memoir: Gloria Steinem

3. Fictional Selves: A Memoir: Kyle MacLachlan

4. The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic: Malcolm Gladwell

5. End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World: Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor

6. Swan Song: Diana, my sister: Charles Spencer

7. Rock*: A Mainstream Alternative History of Alternative Mainstream Music: Chuck Klosterman

8. The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East: Simon Sebag Montefiore

9. The Steps: A Memoir: Sylvester Stallone

10. California Dreams: The Making and Remaking of the University of California: Miriam Pawel

PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Dungeon Crawler Carl: Matt Dinniman

2. East of Eden: John Steinbeck

3. Theo of Golden: Allen Levi

4. I Who Have Never Known Men: Jacqueline Harpman

5. May We Feed the King: Rebecca Perry

6. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2): Matt Dinniman

7. The Best Short Stories 2026: The O. Henry Prize Winners: Tommy Orange (Ed.)

8. Circe: Madeline Miller

9. Wild Dark Shore: Charlotte McConaghy

10. Stoner: John Williams

PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Bread of Angels: A Memoir: Patti Smith

2. All About Love: New Visions: bell hooks

3. The Artist’s Way: 30th Anniversary Edition: Julia Cameron

4. Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature: Emily Wilson

5. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession: Michael Finkel

6. Raising Hare: A Memoir: Chloe Dalton

7. Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype: Clarissa Pinkola Estés

8. I’m Glad My Mom Died: Jennette McCurdy

9. Mother Mary Comes to Me: Arundhati Roy

10. The Fire Next Time: James Baldwin

​ Orange County Register