How a haunting scream in the night helped inspire ‘The Department’

• February 20, 2025

Jacqueline Faber was a young girl when she had an experience that she would revisit while writing her debut novel, “The Department.”

The author was 7 years old when she went with her family to visit her mother’s childhood home in Salinas, California. She was sharing a bedroom with other family members when she heard something frightening.

“I remember waking up — I am a really bad sleeper — and I was awake, lying there,” Faber says. “I remember hearing a woman scream, and I looked around the room and no one stirred, no one moved. I remember thinking, ‘If she screams again, I’m going to wake somebody up.’ But she didn’t scream again, and I didn’t wake anyone up.”

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The experience stayed with her. Later, she would become interested in the 1964 Kitty Genovese case, in which a woman was murdered outside of her New York apartment. At the time, the New York Times reported that 37 people witnessed the attack, but none of them called for help — reporting that has since been debunked.

Kitty Genovese was on Faber’s mind when she wrote “The Department.” The novel follows Neil Weber, a philosophy professor at a Southern university who becomes obsessed with the disappearance of a student, Lucia Vanotti. The book switches perspectives between Neil and Lucia, both of whom are haunted by their own traumatic pasts. 

The academic setting was a natural for Faber, who earned a PhD in comparative literature from Emory University, and who taught in the Expository Writing Program at New York University, before becoming a full-time writer.

Faber talked about “The Department” via Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. This conversation has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Q. You left the world of academia to write full time. How did you make that decision?

Before you get on the PhD track, there’s this narrative in academia where they’re trying to dissuade you. They’re like, “If you can do anything else, don’t do this.” It’s like you have to choose this life of struggle. I remember when I chose to get my PhD, even at that point I was like, “I don’t know if academia is where I belong ultimately, but I am going to get paid to read and write and learn how to think better than I already think.” 

I got a grant to finish my dissertation in Berlin. I was so immersed in the work, but some part of me was putting feelers out into the world: What else might there be for me? At the same time, I’m watching all of these absolutely brilliant colleagues of mine go on the job market and not get jobs. Then I met this woman there who was a writer who worked for an innovation consultancy group, and she brought me on to some of their projects. I honestly believe if I had met anybody else out the gate, I might’ve just tried to stay in academia. But because she told me, “You can do this,” it made me feel like my instinct for storytelling and my love of language could have different homes. I wasn’t even thinking about becoming a novelist. I just thought, “I like words, I like stories. Where will this take me?”

Q. How did the initial inspiration for this story, which is set in the academic world, come to you?

I had this very strong visual image of Lucia’s face on a missing person poster. I felt almost haunted by it. I didn’t know anything about her or the story. I just was like, “Who is this girl, and why does she keep surfacing in my mind?” Initially, I thought I would just write about it from Neil’s perspective. He’s this guy who’s down on his luck; his whole life is sort of imploding, and how does this girl give him a reason for being? As I was writing him, and he was trying to investigate her life, her own voice was intruding in my mind, and then it became really clear that I needed to write her perspective as well. 

The first thing that interested me about academia [as a setting] is that college is this space with such a unique dynamic, where you have these young people coming, and they’re away from their parents usually for the first time. So they have no parental figures, and their professors become both stand-ins for that sort of authority, but also they’re exposing them to these new ideas. It feels like this radical place where boundaries are really complicated. 

Q. And Neil’s such a messy character; his life is basically in shambles. 

I love Neil. He is challenging; he is messy in so many ways. He is messy in his inability to leave the woman who has left him. He is messy in the way he’s constantly fudging these boundaries. He’ll lie to people even as he’s like, “I want to do the right thing, and therefore I can justify this lie that I’ve been called upon by the provost to conduct my own investigation here.”

But his swings and his obsessions were fun. Lucia was hard. They were both hard in certain ways; they both feel so real to me, and I feel such deep empathy towards both of them, and I wanted to be respectful of both of them. I have a deep belief about human beings, that we are very complex, contradictory things that move through the world, and we don’t hold one belief. We can hold conflicting beliefs all the time, and we can behave in ways that run counter to the way that we’d imagined we’d behave. That feels really interesting to me. That’s what I’m chasing.

​ Orange County Register 

Unions sue over federal worker firings, citing misuse of probationary periods

• February 20, 2025

By Brian Witte | The Associated Press

Unions for federal workers have filed a lawsuit to block the mass firings of probationary federal employees by President Donald Trump’s administration, alleging that officials are exploiting and misusing the probationary period to eliminate staff across government agencies.

The unions allege in the complaint filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in California that the firings “represent one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.”

The lawsuit says the administration’s Office of Personnel Management acted unlawfully by directing federal agencies to use a standardized termination notice falsely claiming performance issues. The unions seek an injunction to stop more firings and to rescind those that have already happened.

“This administration has abused the probationary period to conduct a chaotic, ill-informed, and politically-driven firing spree,” American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a news release. “The result has been the indiscriminate firing of thousands of patriotic public servants across the country who help veterans in crisis, ensure the safety of our nuclear weapons, keep power flowing to American homes, combat the bird flu, and provide other essential services.”

OPM did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The complaint contends that the firings were made on false pretenses and violate federal law, including the Administrative Procedure Act.

“Overnight, tens of thousands of federal employees received the same termination letter citing ‘performance issues’ without any explanation or reasoning,” said a statement from Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President. “These mass firings are yet another unlawful attempt by this billionaire-run administration to gut public services.”

Congress, not OPM, controls and authorizes federal employment and related spending by the federal administrative agencies, the complaint said, and Congress has determined that each agency is responsible for managing its own employees.

​ Orange County Register 

A news conference between Zelenskyy and Trump’s Ukraine envoy is canceled amid growing tensions

• February 20, 2025

By JUSTIN SPIKE

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A news conference that was planned to follow talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy was canceled Thursday as political tensions deepened between the two countries over how to end the almost three-year war with Russia.

The event was originally supposed to include comments to the media by Zelenskyy and retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, but it was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity where the two posed for journalists. They did not deliver statements or field questions as expected. The change was requested by the U.S. side, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nikiforov said.

Kellogg’s trip to Kyiv coincided with recent feuding between Trump and Zelenskyy that has bruised their personal relations and cast further doubt on the future of U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort.

Dozens of journalists gathered at Ukraine’s presidential office in Kyiv after being invited to take photos and observe a news conference with Zelenskyy and Kellogg. As the meeting began, photographers and video journalists were allowed into a room where the two men shook hands before sitting across from each other at a table.

Journalists were then informed that there would be no news conference with remarks by the leaders or questions from reporters. Nikiforov gave no reason for the sudden change except to say that it was in accordance with U.S. wishes.

The U.S. delegation made no immediate comment. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why the news conference was called off.

The two men were due to speak about Trump’s efforts to end the war. Zelenskyy had previously said he looked forward to explaining what was happening in Ukraine and showing it to Kellogg.

Kellogg, one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book laying out an “America First” national security agenda, has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues.

Zelenskyy and Trump have traded rebukes in recent days.

The spat erupted after Russia and the U.S. agreed Tuesday to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. With that, Trump abruptly reversed the three-year U.S. policy of isolating Russia.

Zelenskyy was unhappy that a U.S. team opened the talks without inviting him or European governments that have backed Kyiv.

When Trump claimed Zelenskyy was deeply unpopular in Ukraine, the president said Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space,” suggesting he had been duped by Putin.

But Zelenskyy “retains a fairly high level of public trust” — about 57 percent — according to a report released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.

Trump accused Zelenskyy of being “A Dictator without Elections!!” Due to the war, Ukraine did delay elections that were scheduled for April 2024.

Trump also suggested that Ukraine was to blame for the war.

Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.

On Wednesday, Trump warned Zelenskyy that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or risk not having a nation to lead.

European leaders quickly threw their support behind Zelenskyy.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz whose country has been Kyiv’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the U.S., said it was “wrong and dangerous” to deny Zelenskyy’s democratic legitimacy.

Ukraine has been defending itself for nearly three years against a merciless war of aggression — day after day,” Scholz told news outlet Der Spiegel.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Zelenskyy on Wednesday and expressed support for him “as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader,” Starmer’s office said, adding that it was “perfectly reasonable” to postpone elections during wartime.

Russian officials, meanwhile, are basking in Washington’s attention and offering words of support for Trump’s stance.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “the rhetoric of Zelenskyy and many representatives of the Kyiv regime in general leaves much to be desired” — a veiled reference to Ukrainian criticism of Putin.

“Representatives of the Ukrainian regime, especially in recent months, often allow themselves to make statements about the heads of other states that are completely unacceptable,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

Amid the diplomatic clamor, Ukrainian civilians continue to endure Russian strikes. Russia fired 161 Shahed and decoy drones and up to 14 missiles of various types at Ukraine overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, according to military authorities.

A Russian glide bomb struck an apartment block in the southern city of Kherson on Wednesday night, killing one person and wounding six, including 14-year-old twins, authorities said.

The southern port city of Odesa also came under a Russian drone attack for the second consecutive night, leaving almost 50,000 homes without electricity in freezing winter temperatures, officials said.

​ Orange County Register 

Sen. Mitch McConnell won’t seek reelection in 2026, ending long tenure as Republican power broker

• February 20, 2025

By BRUCE SCHREINER and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday that he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to run for another term in Kentucky and to retire when his current term ends. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before he addressed colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.

“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said, as aides lined the back chamber and several senators listened from seats. “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge a conservative Supreme Court and steered the Senate through tax cuts, presidential impeachment trials and fierce political fights.

McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027. The Kentuckian has dealt with a series of medical episodes in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when his face briefly froze while he was speaking.

The senator delivered his speech in a chamber the famously taciturn McConnell revered as a young intern long before joining its back benches as a freshman lawmaker in the mid-1980s. His dramatic announcement comes almost a year after his decision to relinquish his leadership post after the November 2024 election. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a top McConnell deputy, replaced him as majority leader.

McConnell’s looming departure reflects the changing dynamics of the Trump-led GOP. He’s seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to criticizing him in caustic terms.

In Kentucky, McConnell’s departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate and will set off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party for winning statewide office in Republican territory, has said he has no interest in the Senate, though he is widely viewed as a contender for higher office.

McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagan’s brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump.

McConnell still champions providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid to fend off Russia’s invasion, even as Trump ratchets up criticism of the country and its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The senator plans to make it clear Thursday that national defense remains at the forefront of his agenda.

“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell said in his prepared remarks. “But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to.”

McConnell and Trump were partners during Trump’s first term, but the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for “disgraceful” acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by his supporters. A momentary thaw in 2024 when McConnell endorsed Trump didn’t last.

Last week, Trump referred to McConnell as a “very bitter guy” after McConnell, who battled polio as a child, opposed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as the nation’s top health official. McConnell referred to Trump as a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist” in a biography of the senator by The Associated Press’ deputy Washington bureau chief, Michael Tackett.

Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed through a tax overhaul largely focused on reductions for businesses and higher-earning taxpayers. They joined forces to reshape the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three justices and McConnell guided them to Senate confirmation, tilting the high court to the right.

McConnell set a new precedent for hardball partisan tactics in 2016 by refusing to even give a hearing to Democratic President Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Putting the brakes on the Senate’s “advise and consent” role for judicial nominees, McConnell said the vacancy should be filled by the next president so voters could have their say. Trump filled the vacancy once he took office, and McConnell later called the stonewalling of Garland’s nomination his “most consequential” achievement.

Later, when liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died weeks before the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell rushed Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation through the Senate, waving off allegations of hypocrisy.

McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals.

In the second impeachment, weeks after the deadly Capitol attack by a mob hoping to overturn Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat, McConnell joined all but seven Republicans in voting to acquit. McConnell said he believed Trump couldn’t be convicted because he’d already left office, but the senator also condemned Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection.

McConnell over the years swung back and forth from majority to minority leader, depending on which party held power. He defended President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and failed to block Obama’s health care overhaul.

McConnell, the longest-serving senator ever from Kentucky, ensured that the Bluegrass State received plenty of federal funding. Back home he was a key architect in his party’s rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats.

He is married to Elaine Chao, and they have long been a power couple in Washington. In his prepared remarks Thursday, the senator referred to her as his “ultimate teammate and confidante.” Chao was labor secretary for Bush and transportation secretary during Trump’s first term, though she resigned after the Capitol insurrection, saying it had “deeply troubled” her.

McConnell’s parting words reflected his devotion to the Senate and his disdain for his detractors.

“The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence,” he said. “And, to the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job.”

Schreiner reported from Louisville, Ky.

​ Orange County Register 

The unserious new Republican budget plan

• February 20, 2025

Serious problems should be met with serious solutions. We have serious problems, namely a fast-growing debt and a need to extend some tax cuts in an unforgiving environment where interest rates are high and inflation is rising again. Unfortunately, despite a new mandate, House Republicans have yet to rise to the occasion. Their latest budget blueprint shows that fiscal responsibility vanishes the moment real choices arise.

As a reminder, government debt stands at 100% of GDP. It will grow to 117% by 2034 if the tax cuts are allowed to expire as scheduled this year. It was 76.5% when the cuts were first passed in 2017.

For those wondering why deficits and debt have accumulated so much, here are some more numbers. According to Center for a Free Economy President Ryan Ellis, since 2017, tax revenues have grown by 58%, while spending has grown by 75%. These hikes weren’t driven by inflation alone, which increased by 31% cumulatively over the period. As Ellis rightly notes, we can’t blame taxpayers. The fault lies squarely with politicians’ spending incontinence.

Enter the House Republican budget blueprint for a “big beautiful bill” as requested by the president. As the Committee for a Responsible Budget explains, “the budget resolution’s instructions include a net $3.3 trillion in allowable deficit increases — or nearly $4 trillion including interest in additional debt by 2034.” It also raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.

Basically, we’re talking about offsetting as much as $4.8 trillion — mostly for tax-cut extensions — with only $1.5 trillion in supposed spending reductions. The plan projects that additional tax revenue from economic growth will temper the debt impact.

While I’ve touted the potential for some tax-cut extensions to boost economic growth, this is a case of wishful thinking by Republicans. In part, it’s because the plan relies on the same kinds of budget gimmicks and unrealistic assumptions we’ve seen before, like counting on Congress to deliver on large future spending cuts to discretionary spending and Medicaid.

It’s not as if there isn’t lots to cut — there is, especially considering the unhinged government expansions of the last four years — but it remains politically tough. As the Manhattan Institute’s Jessica Riedl notes, achieving the assumed level of cuts in the plan would require Congress to deliver the lowest discretionary spending share of GDP since the 1930s while simultaneously increasing defense and border-security spending. Why would we expect Congress to have the stomach for that?

Many Republicans are putting their faith in Elon Musk’s cost cutting, but it’s not enough. Much of what needs to happen requires Congress, which apparently prefers to once again kick the can down the road.

The blueprint makes other questionable assumptions. I doubt we’ll find $2.6 trillion in extra revenue from a highly improbable 2.8% annual GDP growth rate, considering the approximately 1.8% growth baseline.

Yes, extending the provision allowing businesses to quickly and fully deduct the cost of their investments would have a powerful, positive impact on growth. However, many of the other tax provisions have little growth oomph.

In addition, there are plenty of headwinds that will hamper growth, such as the increase of the debt itself and the uncertainty created by a president who spends his time threatening trading partners with ever more tariffs.

There’s real risk that inflation may pick up again, in part because previous fiscal decadence has led to enormous interest payments on the debt, which has serious ripple effects. If Republicans decide to extend taxes without any concern for adding to the debt, they will contribute to the problem.

And indeed, it looks like that’s what they are setting out to do. The saddest part is that this version of the plan will be better than whatever bargained budget congressional Republicans can get across the finish line — especially after caving to those who want to eliminate revenue-savers from the 2017 tax reform, such as the limits put on the state and local tax deduction.

I get it: Governing is hard, so legislators tout savings and revenue that may never materialize. But glossy narratives do nothing to fix the nation’s daunting debt trajectory, and budgets like this latest one push us closer to crisis. Without difficult structural reforms, debt will continue to mount, forcing harsher choices later.

To capitalize on their opportunity, Republicans must confront reality. So stop the charade and cut both discretionary spending and the growth of runaway entitlement spending. And cut any unfair tax loopholes that prevent us from paying for a slightly more modest government.

Veronique de Rugy is the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: USC’s JuJu Watkins is hard to keep down

• February 20, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Hearts were in throats throughout Galen Center for a while Wednesday night.

JuJu Watkins – the franchise, as far as the USC women’s basketball team is concerned – lay on the floor at one free-throw line as the play went to the other end. She’d had a layup blocked by Michigan State’s Jocelyn Tate, who grabbed the rebound, pushed it downcourt and ultimately scored on a layup.

It was only after that play, with 3:46 left in the second quarter, that Watkins got to her feet and went to the Trojans’ bench, holding the back of her head, and from there proceeded up the tunnel to the locker room.

You can’t actually hear people holding their breaths, of course. But you could have detected a lot of relieved exhaling a few minutes later when JuJu came back through the tunnel and took a seat on the bench. She worked her neck back and forth for a few moments, and then got up and went to the scorer’s table to check back into the game with 2:53 left in the half.

Crisis averted.

And oh, by the way, Watkins missed just those 53 seconds of playing time, finishing with a 28-point, eight-rebound performance – with three assists, three steals, three blocked shots and a couple of critical plays at the end – in fourth-ranked USC’s 83-75 victory over the No. 22 Spartans.

You can argue all day long whether Watkins or Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers is the most transcendent player in women’s college basketball this season, the inheritor of the mantle passed down by Caitlin Clark. But at USC there is no argument.

JuJu makes things happen on the court – I mean, who else can fake a drive and a stepback 3-pointer not only on the same possession but with the same move?

JuJu also fills seats and lures celebrities; actor Jason Sudeikis was courtside Wednesday night, as was the usual collection of USC women’s basketball alumni headed by the queen, Cheryl Miller.

There are also all of the little girls inspired by the star who stayed home, such as the young girl who held up this sign during a timeout: “I wear No. 12 to be like you, JuJu.”

JuJu has a lot to do with the 24-2 record and No. 4 ranking in both the AP and USA Today polls that the Women of Troy possess, although she has had plenty of help. Wednesday night, Kiki Iriafen added 24 points, 13 of them in the second half, along with 10 rebounds and three blocks, while Rayah Marshall grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots.

Still, you’d have held your breath too when JuJu went down. But, as noted above, it was just a blip.

“I got my neck tied up a little bit,” she said. “But I was fine. It just – I was in a little bit of shock.”

And what was going through Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s mind when her best player – yes, we said it, the franchise – was lying at the free-throw line?

“I mean, obviously you don’t want to ever see anyone down,” Gottlieb began, then added: “But I think JuJu takes too much contact. You know, I’ll leave it at that so I don’t get myself in trouble.

“But there’s been a lot of times I’ve seen her on the ground and pop right back up. She’s obviously really tough, wants to play through anything. Going to always make sure she’s okay and get the okay from the training staff. But whenever she came back, she said, I’m good to go. And that was that.”

After returning to the game – encompassing the final 2:53 of the first half and the entire second half – Watkins had 14 points, was 4 for 10 from the field, 0 for 2 from 3-point range, 6 for 9 from the foul line, and had four rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block. In other words, all of the assists, all of the steals, half of her rebounds and one of those blocks came after she returned to the game.

And on an evening when Michigan State (19-7 overall, 9-6 in the Big Ten) trailed by 21 late in the third quarter but cut the USC lead to six with 4:01 left, Watkins saved some of her best for when it was needed most. A driving layup interrupted a 17-4 Spartans run, though Watkins missed the and-one opportunity.

And with the Spartans within 76-68 and 2:51 to play, Watkins took a rebound of a Julia Ayarault miss, took it the length of the court and scored with a Eurostep to make it 78-68. Then she put this one to bed when she took the ball to the rim with 1:14 to play, for a layup that made it 80-71.

To digress slightly, the idea that the L.A. schools sit at the top of the Big Ten women’s standings with a week and a half left – with first-place USC (14-1) having clinched a double bye in the 15-team conference tournament and UCLA (12-1) also in a position to do so – might be a surprise to those in the conference’s traditional outposts. But it shouldn’t be to anyone who has watched the growth of the USC and UCLA programs.

Michigan State coach Robyn Fralick – while referencing, of course, the 70-degree temperatures and sunshine that greeted the refugees from the snow belt in L.A. – also made note of just how much of a beast playing UCLA and USC back to back can be.

“It’s a huge challenge,” Fralick said. “They’re the two best teams in the league right now. And you got to play them on the same trip. But that’s the league. That’s the reality of what we got to do.”

Gottlieb called her team’s success to this point a testament to her players.

“I think conference play is the best test of the consistency of excellence,” she said. “You’ve got to win when you don’t have it some nights. You’ve got to win when you’re on the road, when you know someone’s in a slump. You gotta win when the officiating goes a certain way.

“And so to to get this far and with two games to go, to have earned a top-four seed is something that I’m proud of them for. But our goals are bigger than that. And, you know, we have an opportunity here in these next two games to compete for a championship. And that’s even more special than just the double bye.”

As long as JuJu is in position to lead the way, it’s all good.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Senate committee advances ex-wrestling CEO Linda McMahon as Trump’s nominee for education secretary

• February 20, 2025

By COLLIN BINKLEY, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate committee voted Thursday to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination to serve as President Donald Trump’s education secretary, bringing her closer to leading an agency the Republican president wants to shut down.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12-11 along party lines to send her nomination to be considered by the full Senate.

At her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she wants to “reorient” the Education Department. Since his campaign, Trump has called for the department to be abolished, but McMahon acknowledged that only Congress could shut it down completely.

“We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with,” she said.

Pressed on the fate of the agency’s core initiatives, McMahon said Trump wants them to be more efficient but isn’t out to defund them. She suggested certain roles could be moved to other agencies, saying the department’s civil rights arm could go to the Justice Department.

She pledged to preserve federal Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, all of which were created by Congress.

At the same time, McMahon promised to cut off federal money from schools that defy Trump’s orders against transgender athletes in women’s sports, campus antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the country.

Democrats were alarmed by McMahon’s response to questions about Trump’s order to ban DEI programs in schools. Asked if African American history classes could trigger a loss of federal money, McMahon said she wasn’t certain and needed to look into it.

McMahon, a billionaire Trump ally and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, brings less experience in education than many others in the role. She was a member of the Connecticut board of education for about a year in 2009, and she’s a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University. She left the WWE in 2009 and led two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut.

Republicans were mostly unified behind McMahon at the hearing, though Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska raised concerns that Trump would ask McMahon to overstep her authority and interfere with local control of schools.

The White House is considering an order that would direct the education secretary to dismantle the Education Department while urging Congress to fully abolish it.

Even without the order, the Trump administration has fired or suspended more than 100 Education Department employees. Dozens of contracts have been canceled by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The latest cuts, announced late Wednesday, involve grants totaling $226 million for a program designed to help schools improve outcomes and the quality of instruction, particularly for students with the greatest need. An Education Department news release said the program has been promoting “race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

How California is leading the way to address concerns over ultra-processed food

• February 20, 2025

In 2025, California is making significant steps to address the growing concerns over ultra-processed foods, taking a stance to improve public health nutrition.

Known for its forward-thinking policies on health and the environment, California is once again leading the way with new regulations aimed at reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods, which have been linked to a range of chronic health issues such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Ultra-processed foods are products that have undergone significant industrial processing, often involving artificial ingredients, preservatives, sweeteners and flavor enhancers. These foods, which include sugary snacks, ready-to-eat meals and sodas, have become staples in the American diet, contributing to both rising rates of chronic diseases and health care costs. Plus, evidence suggests that diets with large amounts of ultra-processed foods negatively impact mental health as well.

While California is cracking down on ultra-processed foods, it is not banning them outright. The main goal is to create a healthier food environment for residents while aiming to reduce healthcare costs over the long term. State officials have recognized the need to regulate and provide clearer labeling for foods that contribute to poor health outcomes.

One of the most notable actions introduced earlier this year orders the California Department of Public Health to provide recommendations to the governor’s office by April 1, 2025, to help limit the harms associated with ultra-processed foods. This may very well include warning labels on the packages of ultra-processed foods, aiming to empower consumers to make informed choices when grocery shopping.

California is also working to incentivize food manufacturers to shift towards healthier, more sustainable alternatives. The state is offering tax breaks and grants to companies that invest in producing minimally processed foods, with a focus on plant-based options and nutrient-rich products. By promoting healthier foods, California hopes to encourage businesses to rethink the way they approach food production, ultimately making healthier choices more accessible to consumers.

These recent steps to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed foods in California build upon state legislation passed in 2024 focused on food safety, food security and nutrition interventions including banning the sale of foods and beverages containing certain food dyes in public schools.

Plus, California is implementing educational programs across schools and communities to raise awareness about the importance of a balanced diet and the risks associated with ultra-processed foods. These initiatives aim to empower residents to make healthier food choices, whether cooking at home or dining out. By fostering a culture of nutrition education, California is working to prevent the long-term health consequences that come with a diet dominated by processed foods.

Ultimately, California’s 2025 crackdown on ultra-processed foods represents a significant step in the state’s ongoing efforts to improve public health and nutrition. While these actions may be seen by some as controversial, they do align with the public’s overall growing interest in transparency in food product information and “cleaner” food labels. California is creating an environment that encourages healthier eating habits while holding food manufacturers accountable for the products they create. As the nation watches California’s innovative approach unfold, it serves as a hopeful example of what can be achieved when policymakers prioritize the health and well-being of their citizens.

LeeAnn Weintraub, MPH, RD is a registered dietitian, providing nutrition counseling and consulting to individuals, families and organizations. She can be reached by email at [email protected].

​ Orange County Register