Orange County scores and player stats for Thursday, May 14

• May 15, 2026

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Thursday, May 14

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

SOFTBALL

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

Round 1

DIVISION 1

La Mirada 4, Los Alamitos 2

DIVISION 2

Huntington Beach 5, Santa Fe 4

DIVISION 3

El Toro 9, Colton 0

DIVISION 8

Bell Gardens 11, Magnolia 4

Capistrano Valley Christian 18, California Military Institute 1

Arroyo Valley 20, La Quinta/Westminster 3

​ Orange County Register 

Southwest pilot says landing at JWA aborted because of small plane

• May 15, 2026

The pilot of a Southwest flight from Phoenix to John Wayne Airport initiated a go-around after telling the tower that the pilot of a smaller airplane flew close to the commercial jet on Wednesday evening, May 13, according to air traffic communications.

The close encounter occurred sometime around 6:30 p.m. as the Southwest jet, a Boeing 737, was preparing to land at the airport, according to what can be heard on air traffic control audio archives.

“That guy was really close to us,” the Southwest pilot radioed to the tower, with an air traffic controller confirming he heard the message. About 10 seconds later, the Southwest pilot told the tower he would go around.

A go-around is where a pilot aborts a landing on final approach, applies power, and climbs back into the air.

It was not immediately known exactly how close the planes were.

“We were on final approach, pretty low, when suddenly, the gal next to us gasped, and the people behind us said, ‘What?’ ” said Art Smith, a passenger on the Southwest plane, in an interview on Thursday.

The 70-year-old Aliso Viejo resident, who was traveling with his wife, said the plane then immediately began regaining altitude.

Though Smith did not see the other aircraft himself, he said passengers behind him reported seeing a twin-engine plane nearby.

“It was close enough that the gal next to us could see the pilot in the plane,” he said. Actually, he added, she said she could see the pilot’s face.

There were no reports of any trouble with any airplanes landing on the two runways, which run parallel to each other.

Data from FlightAware, a third-party flight tracker, indicated the Southwest flight landed safely just before 6:40 p.m. The plane had taken off from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at around 5:33 p.m.

A spokesman for the FAA said it would look into the possible near-miss on Friday.

Go-arounds are not unusual and can be done for various reasons.

“Last night, Southwest Airlines Flight 4633 landed safely at Orange County (SNA) after the pilots performed a routine go-around procedure,” Ashley Bain, a Southwest spokeswoman, said in an email. She did not elaborate about the incident.

“It won’t stop us from flying,” Smith, the passenger, said. “I just chalk it up to one of those things that happens from time to time.”

On March 26, a near miss at the airport was reported after a military helicopter crossed in front of a United Airlines flight with 162 passengers on board as the airplane made its final approach to the runway at about 8:40 p.m., according to the FAA. The United Airlines flight continued its descent into Santa Ana, landing safely about 3 minutes later.

The near miss in March occurred about eight miles north of the runway, said AnnaSophia Servin, a spokesperson for John Wayne Airport.

Servin could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

​ Orange County Register 

LA County Fair 2026 Guide: Map, resources and what not to miss

• May 15, 2026

The 2026 Los Angeles County Fair is happening now at the Fairplex in Pomona. This year’s theme is “Play Your Way,” which invites fairgoers to tap into their inner child. The fair runs Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., now until May 31.

Regardless of whether you’re someone who plans ahead or are looking for last-minute tips to have an eventful day at the LA County Fair, we’ve got you covered.

Jump to the section:

• Tickets
• Parking
• Carnival Rides and Attractions
• Fun Food
• Things To Do
• Concerts

We’ve put together a variety of guides of fun foods to try, new activities to the fair and other hidden gems you won’t want to miss.

Tips for the 2026 LA County Fair

Tickets:

Tickets start at $18 online and $32 at the gate. The fair is cashless for both entry tickets and parking.

Season passes are also available. They start at $25, for a value pass with fair admission, which is good for the first two weeks of the fair. A premium pass is $59 with fair admission and lasts through the duration of the fair.Carnival ride unlimited ride wristbands start at $55 online and include two free carnival game vouchers.

Parking:

Parking for the event starts at $22.50 online and is $26 at the gate for single-day parking.

Parking season passes are also available for $86.50 online and include parking for the duration of the fair, which runs May 7-31.Parking is located in the Yellow Lot/Gate 17 and the Blue Lot/Gate 9. A tram is available most days to transport fairgoers from the farther parking to the yellow entrance for the fair.

Carnival Rides and Attractions:This year, the fair will feature 70 rides, including two new ones, Sound Storm and Air Raid, and 30 game booths, along with a vast assortment of food and merchandise vendors on over 500 acres.

Fun Food:

What’s a county fair without some fun, sometimes a little wacky, fair food? Attendees will be able to find fair classics like funnel cake, corn in a cup and more throughout all of the various booths throughout the Fairplex at Pomona. But this year they’ll also find some creative choices such as a sweet potato smoothie, fried mangonada, pickle pizza, spam wonton tacos and watermelon slices wrapped in fruit roll-up and topped with chamoy and tajin.

Things To Do:

The fair also has plenty of activities going on each day such as barnyard races, petting zoos and the chance to see the World-Famous Budweiser Clydesdales.

New to the fair this year is a pirate-themed play area for little fairgoers 10 and under is also new this year, located near the Lagoon.

This year also marks the introduction of “The Cutest Dog Show on Earth,” which is also located in the lagoon area. The show features rescue pups showing off their best tricks and is held on fair days at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.Tickets for events like culinary classes, wine tastings and more are also available on the fair’s website.

Concerts:

L.A. County Fair concert series takes place on Saturday and Sunday evenings, offering just eight shows throughout its run May 7-31. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. Organizers recommend arriving at least three hours early to account for parking, entry and seating.

While tickets to the concerts are a separate purchase, they do include same-day admission to the fair.

​ Orange County Register 

Armed man shot by police at end of pursuit in Beaumont awarded $3.62 million by jury

• May 15, 2026

A federal jury on Wednesday, May 13, awarded $3.62 million to a man who was armed with a gun when police officers shot him at the end of a pursuit from Hemet to Beaumont in 2024.

The jury in U.S. District Court in Riverside said George Gonzalez, 32, should receive $2.75 million for future pain and suffering and emotional distress, $750,000 for past pain and suffering and emotional distress and $120,000 for future economic loss, court documents show.

The defendants in the four-day trial were the California Highway Patrol and patrolman Sean Irick.

Gonzalez previously settled out of court with the city of Hemet, whose officers also fired on Gonzalez. The amount of the settlement was not available on Thursday. The state chose to take the case to trial.

Gonzalez still faces surgeries to fix digestive problems caused by the shooting, civil rights attorney Dale K. Galipo said in an interview Thursday.

“He’s very grateful for the verdict,” Galipo said. “I’m very thankful to the jurors for having the courage to do the right thing, and that’s holding the officer accountable for the use of unreasonable and excessive force.”

Jurors agreed on four of the plaintiff’s claims: that Irick used excessive force, unreasonable force, violated the Bane Act — a state law that safeguards civil rights — and was negligent. Jurors said Irick was 55% responsible for the negligent conduct that caused Gonzalez’s injuries, and that Gonzalez was 45% responsible, according to court documents.

Had jurors found that Irick had been culpable on only the negligence claim, the award would have been reduced by 45%, Galipo explained.

According to Galipo, the lawsuit and a news release issued at the time by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, members of a gang task force were called to the area of Whittier Avenue and Girard Street in Hemet around 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2024. Someone reported that Gonzalez, a felon, was violating a restraining order by refusing to allow his girlfriend to enter her sister’s house. Gonzalez reportedly was armed.

When officers contacted Gonzalez as he sat in his car, he drove off at speeds up to 100 mph. When his car became disabled on railroad tracks in the 500 block of B Street in Beaumont, Gonzalez ran toward the loading docks at the Perricone Farms juice factory. Gonzalez, with his back to the officers, pulled a gun out of his waistband and raised it above his right shoulder while looking at the officers over his left. He then lowered the gun and, as he walked away, the officers fired.

Gonzalez dropped the gun after about five shots, Galipo said, but officers continued to fire as he fell.

Irick and Patrick Sobaszek each fired 10 shots, and Andrew Reynoso six shots, Galipo said. Gonzalez was hit three times, the attorney said.

“Our argument was that there was not an immediate threat of death when they started firing, and certainly not when he was on the ground,” Galipo said.

Judge Kenly Kiya Kato granted Galipo’s motion to prohibit the state from arguing that officers could legally shoot a fleeing suspect even if he did not pose an immediate threat, Galipo said.

​ Orange County Register 

Jury awards $49.5M to the family of a woman killed in 2019 Boeing Max crash

• May 14, 2026

By RIO YAMAT, AP Airlines and Travel Writer

A federal jury has awarded $49.5 million to the family of a 24-year-old global nonprofit worker killed in the 2019 crash of a Boeing 737 Max jet in Ethiopia while traveling to her first major assignment.

The verdict, reached Wednesday after a trial in federal court in Chicago, resolves one of the last remaining wrongful death lawsuits filed in connection with the disaster that killed all 157 people aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Samya Stumo, who grew up in Sheffield, Massachusetts, had recently joined a nonprofit focused on strengthening health systems in developing countries. A 2015 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she was traveling to Uganda for what would have been her first major project with the organization when the plane crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019.

A spokesperson for UMass after the crash described her as someone known “for engaging others by earning their respect, friendship and trust.”

Jurors awarded $21 million for the pain and suffering and emotional distress that Stumo experienced aboard the doomed flight, $16.5 million for the loss of companionship suffered by her family and $12 million for their grief, according to attorneys representing her estate.

“We are gratified for the opportunity to try the compensatory damages case,” attorneys Shanin Specter and Elizabeth Crawford said in a statement Wednesday evening announcing the verdict.

It is the second verdict tied to the crash. Boeing has reached confidential pre-trial settlements in most of the dozens of wrongful death lawsuits filed in connection with the Ethiopian Airlines disaster and a similar 737 Max crash five months earlier off the coast of Indonesia that together killed 346 people.

The fatal crashes became a defining crisis for Boeing and the 737 Max program. Investigators found that a flight-control system repeatedly forced the nose of the then-new planes downward based on faulty readings from a single sensor, and pilots in both crashes were unable to regain control.

The verdict follows a November 2025 jury award of $28.45 million to the family of Shikha Garg, a United Nations environmental consultant who also died in the 2019 crash. That case marked the first civil jury trial stemming from the disaster, with jurors similarly tasked only with calculating damages because Boeing has accepted liability.

“We are deeply sorry to all who lost loved ones on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. While we have resolved nearly all of these claims through settlements, families are entitled to pursue their claims through the court process, and we respect their right to do so,” a Boeing spokesperson said Thursday in a statement.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash prompted a worldwide grounding of the 737 Max that lasted more than a year and triggered multiple investigations into Boeing’s safety culture and regulatory oversight.

Federal prosecutors later charged Boeing with misleading regulators about the Max’s flight-control system, though in November, the federal judge in Texas overseeing the long-running criminal case approved a Justice Department request to dismiss it. Prosecutors reached an agreement with Boeing, requiring the company to invest an additional $1 billion in fines, family compensation and safety improvements.

Stumo’s family has been among the most outspoken relatives seeking accountability from Boeing and changes to federal aviation oversight. Her father, Michael Stumo, has publicly pressed Boeing, regulators and Congress over what families viewed as failures that allowed the 737 Max to keep flying after the first crash off the coast of Indonesia.

​ Orange County Register 

Justice Thomas hails US Constitution as common bedrock in divided America

• May 14, 2026

By JOSHUA GOODMAN

MIAMI (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged Americans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of independence not with fireworks or empty platitudes, but by standing up for their deeply held beliefs, with the comforting knowledge that the U.S. Constitution protects free speech and serves as a common bedrock in a society otherwise beset by deep divisions.

“We can disagree on all sorts of things, but we’ve got to have something in common or we don’t have a country,” Thomas said at a judicial conference near Miami. “These documents, our founding documents, our founding history, whether we think it’s perfect or it shouldn’t be amended, or we might disagree about how far it goes, but we can say this is something that we all treasure.”

Thomas’ remarks came in response to an interview with one of his former Supreme Court clerks, Kasdin Mitchell, who was nominated this month by President Donald Trump to serve on the federal bench in Dallas.

Thomas — who recently became the second longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history — looked back on his upbringing in the segregated South and his more than three decades on the high court.

But he gave no indication that, at age 77, he is looking to retire anytime soon and give President Trump the opportunity to further cement his influence on the Supreme Court and nominate his fourth justice, the most of any president in almost a century.

“Justice Marshall said you take a job for life, you do it for life,” referring to Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court’s first African American justice, who Thomas replaced on the high court.

But he said his long tenure had given him a unique perspective on the cynicism that pervades so much of society and contributes to Americans’ distrust in government.

He spoke about the example set by his grandfather, the son of a freed slave with barely any formal education, to describe his judicial philosophy in a limited form of government.

“One of the rods in this society versus so many of the others where the rights are parceled down by a government is that we were taught from the cradle that we were equal in God’s eyes, that was self-evident,” said Thomas. “If you look at Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln, they all speak in terms of these transcendent rights beyond the ability of man to take away even though man had the power to infringe upon them.”

​ Orange County Register 

US agents arrest tourist after video shows a rock hurled at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal’s head

• May 14, 2026

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and GENE JOHNSON

SEATTLE (AP) — A tourist from Washington state is facing federal charges after a witness recorded what prosecutors say was a video of him hurling a coconut-sized rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal just off a Maui beach last week.

Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, made arrangements to surrender in the Seattle area on Wednesday as special agents with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were seeking to arrest him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aislinn Affinito in Honolulu said.

He is charged with harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.

Lytvynchuk, who lives in Covington, Washington, was in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday. A judge ordered him released pending another court appearance in Honolulu on May 27.

Greg Geist, a federal public defender who represented Lytvynchuk at the hearing, said Lytvynchuk hired an attorney in Hawaii, whose name was not immediately listed in the case docket. After the hearing, Geist declined to acknowledge questions from an Associated Press reporter or identify the attorney Lytvynchuk hired.

Two supporters who attended the hearing declined to comment.

The video drew widespread condemnation and demands for prosecution in Hawaii, including from Maui’s mayor.

A state Department of Land and Natural Resources officer last week investigated a report of Hawaiian monk seal harassment in Lahaina, the community that was largely destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023. A witness showed the officer video of the seal swimming in shallow water while a man watched from shore.

“In the cellphone video, the man can be seen holding a large rock with one hand, aiming, and throwing it directly at the monk seal,” prosecutors said in a criminal complaint. The rock, described by a witness as the size of a coconut, narrowly missed the seal’s head, but caused the “animal to abruptly alter its behavior,” the complaint said.

When a witness confronted the man, he said “he did not care and was ‘rich’ enough to pay any fines,” according to the complaint.

Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said the charges send a clear message that cruelty toward protected wildlife won’t be tolerated. He identified the seal as “Lani,” a known and beloved character along Lahaina’s waterfront, whose return after the wildfires brought a sense of healing and hope during a difficult time.

But the state natural resources department said in an email that it likely was not Lani, as it lacked certain markings.

“Humanity and the instinct to protect what is vulnerable are still values people can unite around,” Bissen said in an emailed statement.

The mayor said he called the U.S. attorney in Honolulu to advocate for prosecution.

Lytvynchuk is charged with violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Hawaiian monk seals are a critically endangered species. Only 1,600 remain in the wild.

If convicted, Lytvynchuk faces up to one year in prison for each charge. He also faces a fine of up to $50,000 under the Endangered Species Act and a fine of up to $20,000 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Kelleher reported from Honolulu. Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Congress moves to raise retirement age for Capitol Police as threats against lawmakers mount

• May 14, 2026

By MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is working to increase the retirement age for U.S. Capitol Police officers as the number of threats to lawmakers continues to climb and the department struggles to recruit and retain enough officers.

Legislation passed unanimously by the Senate on Thursday would allow Capitol Police officers to apply to extend their service until age 62, while a bill passed by the House earlier this year would allow them to serve until age 65. That would raise the current age from 60 for officers who apply for waivers to work beyond the legal forced retirement age of 57 or after 20 years of service, whichever comes later.

Raising the age could help the Capitol Police force stem personnel shortages, which Chief Michael Sullivan told Congress earlier this year “span all operational units.”

“We have 300 officers right now that could say I’m done, I’m ready to walk away,” Sullivan told House, appropriators in March, as officers hit their age limit or 20 years of service. “That would be catastrophic for us.”

California Sen. Alex Padilla, the top Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, authored the bipartisan bill with Senate Rules Committee Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Padilla said the legislation is a modest step as increased security measures are put in place to address the rise in threats.

By keeping older officers on the force, Padilla said, “we’re talking about officers who have served for a long, long time and have a tremendous amount of institutional memory, experience and expertise.”

“After bicameral and bipartisan discussions, I hope to see this measure signed into law,” Padilla said.

Nearly 60 sworn officers are already working on a retirement waiver, according to the House Administration Committee, more than double the size of a typical USCP recruitment class.

“No officer should be forced to retire when they can still do the job,” said Republican Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the chairman of that panel.

Capitol Police has struggled to maintain officers

The Capitol Police has made improvements across the board since widespread security failures on Jan. 6, 2021, when the force was overwhelmed by thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters who swarmed the grounds and broke into the building as they violently protested his defeat. Many officers left the department afterward, and retention and budget struggles remain.

The department’s budget request this year topped $1 billion for the first time as department leaders look to hire more officers and better protect members. Sullivan told lawmakers that the department has around 1,250 uniformed officers and needs 150 more to staff every post without paying overtime.

“I’m concerned with the overtime that we put on our folks every single day,” Sullivan said in the March oversight hearing. “There’s drafts on a consistent basis and it pushes the men and women that we have to the limit.”

Funding for the department’s protective intelligence, which protects members, is “very slim,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said a number of officers have left the force for other federal agencies that have better benefits.

“There’s nothing keeping folks here,” he said.

Huge spike in lawmaker threats taxes police force

Part of the reason for the shortages is the increased need for member protection. Threats against lawmakers have more than doubled in the last five years.

According to the department, almost 15,000 threats were investigated against members of Congress in 2025, a 58 percent increase from 2024. Sullivan said that the number of threats in 2026 is on track to be even higher.

The department has overhauled its security measures for members, boosting security for lawmakers and their families in districts around the country, and is working with local police departments that it reimburses. A January report said the force has seen an increase in reporting after a new center was launched two years ago to receive and process threat reports.

Lawmakers in both parties receive a “wide range of threats,” the report said.

All of that requires more personnel and experience, Sullivan said.

“While we focus on those individuals at the beginning of their career, we also need to focus on that experience that’s at the end of their career,” he told lawmakers.

​ Orange County Register