Thieves pull off Italy’s biggest-ever wine heist, stealing 30,000 bottles worth $5.8 million

• October 9, 2026

By GIADA ZAMPANO

ROME (AP) — Thieves stole about 30,000 bottles of some of Italy’s most prized wines worth an estimated 5 million euros ($5.8 million) from a winery in Tuscany, in what the producer described Friday as the country’s largest wine theft on record.

The theft targeted Marchesi Antinori’s facility near Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, where a group of at least seven thieves on Saturday night made off with bottles of some of Italy’s most sought-after wines, including Solaia, Tignanello and Guado al Tasso. The theft was discovered Monday, but the company made it public on Friday to avoid interfering with the investigation.

Chief Executive Renzo Cotarella said the thieves disabled the winery’s alarm system and surveillance cameras before entering with two large trucks. Using the company’s forklifts, they loaded the vehicles with wine and fled during the night.

“It is certainly a very well-prepared gang,” Cotarella said, adding that it may be the same group that has targeted other Italian wineries in recent months. “A theft of this size and value has never occurred in Italy.”

The stolen bottles were all from the 2023 vintage and are typically sold at a retail price of between 150 euros and 500 euros each. They included about 10,000 bottles of Solaia, one of Antinori’s flagship wines, from what Cotarella described as an exceptional year.

The company, founded in 1385 and run by the Antinori family for 26 generations, said it was alerting customers worldwide to be wary of offers outside official sales channels.

“We are informing our clients around the world and asking them to pay attention to any offers outside the official channels,” Cotarella said.

Authorities are investigating how the stolen wine may be sold. Police and Carabinieri officers are examining surveillance footage and other evidence. Cotarella said he remained confident investigators could trace the shipment, noting that two truckloads of wine would be difficult to move without attracting attention.

The theft eclipses previous high-profile wine robberies in Italy. In 2017, thieves stole about 2,000 bottles of rare wines valued at 750,000 euros from a warehouse near the Adriatic resort town of Cervia.

​ Orange County Register 

Vance expresses doubts about Pentagon plan to livestream Ford Hood shooter’s execution

• October 9, 2026

HEBRON, Ky. (AP) — Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on Friday whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.”

The Republican vice president said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday. But Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the shocking plans for a public execution and said Hasan’s crimes should not be forgotten.

“So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” the Republican said.

“Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” he said.

Earlier, President Donald Trump told a White House event that Hasan will be getting “the death penalty through firing squad. And he deserves it.”

Trump called Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009, “a maniac.”

Trump, who has long been a vocal supporter of capital punishment, didn’t mention the plans that the Pentagon has announced to livestream the execution so that the broader public can see it.

​ Orange County Register 

Republicans once raced to embrace Trump. Their debate answers tell a different story now

• October 9, 2026

By BILL BARROW

ATLANTA (AP) — Not long ago, Georgia gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson eagerly compared himself to his fellow billionaire in the Oval Office. He promised to be Donald Trump “with a Southern tone.” And sharing a summer rally stage, Jackson pointed at the president and declared, “I’m going to be this man’s favorite governor.”

On the debate stage this week with his Democratic opponent, however, Jackson discussed Trump only when Keisha Lance Bottoms brought him up. And he assured his audience that he’d “stand up to anybody.”

Jackson is not alone in his recalibration: Republican nominees for Senate, the U.S. House and governor’s offices across the country are sidestepping Trump or openly distancing themselves as they debate before Election Day.

Those tactics, not unlike Republicans scrubbing Trump from their campaign websites, are the latest signs of how much Trump’s standing has fallen because of voters’ frustration with inflation, the Iran war and other matters. And the dynamics highlight the perilous options many Republicans face as they try to stitch together winning coalitions that go beyond Trump’s core supporters.

“Republicans right now are facing a voter turnout problem” in their own party, said GOP pollster Paul Shumaker, and must win “unaffiliated voters” who care most about the economy.

“You have to have something significant to change this narrative,” Shumaker said. But, he explained, that means “a significant victory in Iran” and seismic economic improvements — not something any Republican midterm candidate can force from behind a debate podium.

There’s a Trump tightrope on Iran, tariffs and rhetoric

Some Republicans are taking specific positions at odds with the president.

Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers said in his debate Thursday with Democrat Abdul El-Sayed that he’d urged the White House privately to reach a trade deal with Canada and end the president’s tariffs. Canada is Michigan’s largest trading partner, as it is for many Great Lakes and Midwestern states.

Days before, Rogers unveiled a new ad in which he said, “We know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end the tariff war — now.”

That’s a noticeable departure from Rogers’ earlier, less specific statements praising Trump’s “America First” economic agenda while saying tariffs are not a “one-size-fits-all” solution.

Another Michigan Republican, Rep. Tom Barrett, already had bucked the president by voting for a war powers resolution intended to assert congressional authority over military actions in Iran. But debating Democrat Will Lawrence in their central Michigan district, Barrett added a criticism of Trump’s rhetoric Monday in Nebraska, where he floated the possibility of Iran attacking San Diego and Los Angeles.

The president mentioned those cities as part of his argument that higher gas prices because of his Iran war are a “small price to pay” to keep the country safe. But Democrats seized on the remarks, some insisting that Trump was calling for Iran to attack U.S. cities.

Barrett was asked whether Trump’s words were acceptable. Given the opportunity to echo the White House explanation that Trump was offhandedly mentioning a worst-case scenario he was trying to prevent, Barrett offered no defense.

“Nope,” he said flatly.

Many Republicans prefer a more generalized stiff arm

Reflecting the complex electoral balance, most Republicans have attempted to separate themselves without naming any firm difference with the president.

Running for a promotion to the Senate, Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson tried in her debate Wednesday against Democrat Josh Turek to reconcile her earlier promises to be a Trump ally in Congress’s upper chamber. She said it would be “really easy” to keep her word and still be bipartisan — a buzz word she’s already been featuring in her campaign.

“I’ll be President Donald Trump’s ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him — he knows this, because I talk to him regularly — on things that are wrong for our state,” she said. “That’s true no matter who’s in the White House. That’s true no matter who is governing and who has the gavel.”

That’s the same path Jackson took in Georgia, as he pivoted away from Trump by embracing outgoing Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who has clashed with the president, starting with Trump’s false claims that he won Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.

“I will stand up to anybody, just like Brian Kemp has done,” Jackson said.

Another Republican House member, Mike Lawler of New York, made a point of name-checking a Democratic colleague, New Jersey’s Josh Gottheimer, and discussing bills they’d work on together. It was part of his argument that he’s able to challenge Trump and the party line.

“When I agree with the president I say it. When I disagree with the president, I say it,” he said in his closing remarks.

Hinson, meanwhile, referenced bills she’s worked on in the House that have been signed into law by both President Joe Biden and Trump.

But she also avoided criticizing Trump when asked about the president sending Affordable Care Act rebate checks to some Americans and promising a $5,000 bonus after the midterm elections if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate.

She said she “cares very deeply” about making sure Congress maintains the power of the purse and thinks it’s important to “live better within our means.”

Democrats pounce on either approach

Regardless of the Republican efforts, Democrats have continued peppering them with attacks and retorts about Trump. The most heated moments came when Democrat Cait Conley repeatedly said Lawler always voted with Trump.

“No matter how many times you say 100% of the time,” the congressman answered, “it’s provably false.”

When Rogers conceded in his back-and-forth with El-Sayed that the administration “probably” made errors in its mass deportation strategy, the Democrat answered swiftly.

“He said it was probably not right. I mean, it’s definitely not right,” El-Sayed said. “They killed two people.”

And while Georgia’s Jackson seemed uncomfortable talking about Trump, Bottoms was more than happy to mention him.

“I’m not running to be his favorite governor,” she said. “I’m running to work on behalf of people like you.”

Associated Press reporters Joey Cappelletti in Washington; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

No. 21 UCLA football takes on ‘disruptive and physical’ No. 13 Oregon

• October 9, 2026

LOS ANGELES — The lights dimmed and 60,000 fans fell silent, as the revving of a Harley Davidson echoed throughout Autzen Stadium. Roars simmered in response, growing louder as an illuminated Oregon Duck mascot mounted the back of the motorcycle. As he paraded around Rich Brooks Field, Oregon’s players ran out of the tunnel behind him.

Derrick Barksdale hadn’t seen anything like it.

“It’s definitely a college environment that you want to experience,” the UCLA defensive back said, recalling James Madison’s trip to Eugene for the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff.

Most Saturdays, that environment is sandwiched among college football’s slate. Felt exclusively by fans attending the game. Now, consider households across the nation tuning in for a standalone CFP matchup, placed in the West Coast primetime slot, and add that pressure to playing on a winter night in the Pacific Northwest.

“There were a lot of eyes on that,” UCLA head coach Bob Chesney said. “It was dark. It was cold. It was loud. … Their fans were extremely involved. They have a chance to impact the game.”

When No. 21 UCLA faces No. 13 Oregon at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, the consequences might pale in comparison to a postseason game, in which the Ducks defeated the Dukes 51-34 on Dec. 20, but the stakes remain high. Oregon’s trying to run the table throughout its Big Ten schedule after an early-season loss to No. 18 Oklahoma State put its CFP hopes in jeopardy. UCLA’s attempting to remain perfect in Chesney’s first season as head coach, and make a postseason push itself.

When asked what significance defeating the Ducks would hold for the Bruins, Chesney said, “it would mean we’re continuing on a path that we felt like we could be on.”

In reflecting on his final game before heading to Westwood – JMU’s loss to Oregon last season – Chesney felt the atmosphere at Autzen Stadium was the greatest obstacle. JMU brought an aggressive approach to the game. The Dukes moved the ball on offense but struggled to get stops on defense. The Ducks found matchups they liked, put the ball on the perimeter and exposed downfield coverages, Chesney explained.

“It was going to have to be a really uncommon effort that was going to have to be on display for us to win that game,” Chesney said. “Obviously we came up short, so it wasn’t enough.”

Chesney said he learned the Ducks have “no weaknesses,” and “if you leave them something to expose, they will expose it.”

But 10 months later, “an uncommon effort” won’t be required for UCLA (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) to upset Oregon (3-1, 1-0).

Apart from its 11 JMU transfers, many of whom are key contributors, UCLA is a much different and improved team from those Dukes, and much more equipped to deal with these Ducks.

Barksdale believes the Bruins have the speed across the defense to prevent Oregon from simply putting the ball on the perimeter and outpacing them. Wayne Knight, Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas pace a three-headed running attack that has produced 281.5 yards per game, fourth in the FBS behind West Virginia (294.0), Air Force (297.2) and top-ranking Army West Point (334.2).

“We have a different caliber of athletes now in the Big Ten,” Barksdale said.

The Bruins have proven that, defeating each of their first two Big Ten opponents as well as San Diego State and Cal, each with a different game script.

Still, an “uncommon effort” would certainly be welcomed against Oregon. UCLA  hasn’t beaten the Ducks since 2017 and hasn’t tasted victory in Eugene since 2004

The Ducks feature a sturdy defensive line of soon-to-be-Sunday-players: Teitum Tuioti and Matayo Uiagalelei, a St. John Bosco alum, are on the edge, and Amari Washington and Bear Alexander, a USC transfer, man the interior.

“They’re disruptive and they’re physical,” said Chesney, who is on the cusp of becoming the first coach in UCLA history to start his tenure with a 5-0 record. “What stands out in their play is that they have a plan.”

On the back end, defensive back Brandon Finney Jr. had a defining pass break-up when USC attempted to convert a fourth-and-7 in the fourth quarter on Sept. 26. Safety Koi Perich had the game-sealing interception. That secondary will be dealing with a banged-up UCLA receiving core as slot receiver Mikey Matthews is out for the season and Landon Ellis has been in and out of the lineup but will be available.

UCLA will also have to prepare for a different quarterback than it expected to face at the start of the season. After leading Oregon past JMU in the CFP, Dante Moore was ruled out Wednesday with a concussion dating to the hit he sustained from USC linebacker Desman Stephens II. Dylan Raiola will receive his first start, but he isn’t any other backup.

Raiola carries two years of starting experience from Nebraska, where he threw for 4,819 yards, 31 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He proved he was ready when he filled in for Moore and threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns in leading Oregon to a 41-27 victory in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“It was no drop off,” Chesney said.

To prepare for Raiola, UCLA watched his Nebraska film and performance against USC. Barskdale believes Raiola and Moore are similarly poised, and because Oregon ruled Moore out early in the week, Barksdale said it won’t “change our game plan much.”

After beginning the Chesney era with an exciting, undefeated start, UCLA faces its toughest test. A measuring stick of sorts. A matchup and atmosphere its staff, and a solid portion of players, are familiar with. The Bruins are confident they don’t need the Herculean effort JMU needed to beat Oregon last year, but it will take more than an uptick in talent to erase that fateful 17-point deficit from December.

No. 21 UCLA (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) at No. 13 Oregon (3-1, 1-0)

When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon

TV/Radio: CBS (Ch. 2)/790 AM KABC

​ Orange County Register 

California lieutenant governor candidates talk college affordability and workforce development

• October 9, 2026

Aside from standing in for the governor when that person is out of state and being next in line to become California’s chief executive should that office become vacant, most voters have only a vague idea of what the lieutenant governor does on a day-to-day basis.

And yet, as the second-in-command in California, the lieutenant governor serves on boards and commissions dealing with higher education, public land use, coastal issues and economic development.

In practical terms, the person elected to this office can help shape California’s higher education and housing landscapes, its economy and climate goals.

And as president of the state Senate, the lieutenant governor gets to cast the tie-breaking vote in that chamber on the rare occasion that the need arises. (That hasn’t happened since 1996, according to California State Library communications manager Alex Vassar, when then-Lt. Gov. Gray Davis was summoned to vote on a controversial bill concerning same-sex marriage.)

All this to say that while most voters may not be all that familiar with the role of the lieutenant governor, the position can significantly impact Californians.

And both candidates running for this position believe they would be the one to make the most meaningful impact if elected.

California Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat, and former state Sen. Gloria Romero, who left the Democratic Party and registered as a Republican in 2024, are vying to succeed termed-out Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. (Kounalakis, a Democrat, is running for state treasurer against Republican Jennifer Hawks, a retired businesswoman, this year.)

We asked Ma and Romero to answer a set of questions about their plans to keep higher education affordable and bolster California’s workforce. Here’s what they had to say, based on their written responses and follow-ups with their campaigns.

College affordability

The lieutenant governor sits on the governing boards for the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges systems.

To provide financial relief for students and families, Ma said she’d advocate for UC and CSU tuition freezes, more affordable student housing and an expansion of paid internships.

And she wants to explore potential partnerships with financial institutions or other private-sector organizations to increase grant funding to cover gaps between what students receive in financial aid and what they need to pay for living expenses.

“California should expand Cal Grants to cover the full cost of attendance — not only tuition, but also housing, food, books, transportation and childcare. These expenses often force students to work excessive hours, incur debt or leave school before earning a degree,” Ma said.

She said she would advocate for a “total cost of attendance” grant supplement for low- and middle-income students, prioritizing first-generation students, students who are parents and those experiencing housing or food insecurity.

“As state treasurer, I have helped finance student housing and supported programs that help families save for college,” Ma said. “I understand that affordability involves more than tuition. Students should not have to sleep in their cars, work multiple jobs or travel long distances simply to earn a degree.”

Meanwhile, Romero said that before asking UC families to pay more, she would push “to cut administrative bloat, scrutinize excessive executive compensation, protect classroom instruction, expand affordable student housing, accelerate graduation, and confront academic under-preparation that can increase the time and cost of earning a degree.”

The former Los Angeles Community College District trustee and former state Senate Education Committee chair, who has also taught college-level courses, said she would encourage the use of remote, online, artificial intelligence and round-the-clock course offerings so students have more chances to enroll in classes they need to graduate. Right now, students sometimes get shut out of courses they need because the classes are already fully enrolled. That forces them to wait at least until the following term to enroll, potentially delaying graduation.

Romero also proposed a degree guarantee concept where colleges and universities would be required to offer courses a student needs to complete their degree program within the traditional timeframe or offer an alternative solution, such as allowing them to take the course at another campus, substitute an alternative course or waive the course requirement if academically appropriate.

If a student who otherwise is making satisfactory academic progress is forced to delay graduation and enroll in another term because the course they needed wasn’t available, the college or university would cover the tuition and mandatory fees for that course.

Like Ma, Romero acknowledged that aside from tuition, issues like housing, food and transportation can be factors in whether a student graduates.

“I would prioritize existing financial aid dollars toward students with the greatest demonstrated need and demand greater transparency and accountability for how colleges control the cost of attendance,” Romero said.

Workforce development and the economy

Another key area the lieutenant governor focuses on is economic development.

Romero said she’d bring together housing developers and advocates, small business owners, employers, workers, educators and regional leaders “to identify the regulations, costs and workforce shortages that are holding back hiring — and push the governor and legislature for solutions.”

She also said she would promote trade, port modernization, infrastructure investment and “responsible development” that results in good-paying jobs through her roles on the California State Lands Commission and California Commission for Economic Development.

“As lieutenant governor, I will use the office as a statewide advocate for job creation, economic opportunity and slashing housing regulations, which is key to making California affordable again,” Romero said.

Both Romero and Ma spoke of strengthening partnerships between employers and colleges and universities, including apprenticeship programs, to develop future workforces.

Ma, a certified public accountant, noted her past work helping women- and minority-owned small businesses compete for contracts and said she’d continue advocating for more access to capital, streamlined permitting and fewer barriers for businesses as lieutenant governor.

“I will use my financial expertise to continue to expand affordable housing and homeownership, improve access to capital for small, women- and minority-owned businesses, and connect workforce training with good-paying jobs in healthcare, agriculture, technology, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and the creative economy,” Ma said.

Ma and Romero were the No. 1 and 2 vote-getters, respectively, in the June primary election, out of a field of six leading candidates.

To read more about the candidates’ positions on these and other issues, check out their full responses to our questionnaire in our online voter guide.

Voters have through Nov. 3 to cast their ballot for the general election.

​ Orange County Register 

World’s first Double Heart coaster in South Korea takes thrills to new heights

• October 9, 2026

A new visually-striking Double Heart roller coaster with an extremely compact and vertically oriented footprint packs a lot of thrills into a tight space at an Asian theme park.

The new Giant Revolution coaster debuted on Thursday, Oct. 8 at Lotte World Adventure theme park in South Korea is the first compact vertical coaster of its kind built anywhere in the world.

ALSO SEE: Top 10 new theme park attractions in the world for 2026

The Double Heart coaster by Italy-based Zamperla does away with the traditional lift hill and stacks the track vertically rather than let the course meander horizontally like many roller coasters.

The compact footprint allows Lotte World to squeeze a thrilling coaster into a space usually occupied by a smaller ride like a sedate carousel or leisurely Ferris Wheel.

Lotte World’s Double Heart coaster starts with a forward-backward-forward triple launch that catapults riders 68 mph to the top of the 164-foot-tall dual heart-shaped structure.

A twisting vertical first drop takes riders through an Immelmann inversion and a dive loop along with moments of extreme airtime over 1,800 feet of track.

ALSO SEE: Top 10 new theme park attractions in the U.S. for 2026

Zamperla’s Double Heart joins a growing catalog of vertical coasters that include the Premier Rides Sky Rocket, Intamin ZacSpin, S&S Free Spin and Maurer SkyLoop.

​ Orange County Register 

Time for term limits? Dems in majority could have familiar faces in key roles

• October 9, 2026

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats hope to bring a new agenda to the House next year if they take the majority, but they will most likely do so with many of the same faces that have steered their party’s legislative work for a decade or more.

Potential committee chairs in the next Congress include Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who has served as top Democrat on the House Homeland Security panel since 2005. Then, there’s Adam Smith of Washington, who began serving as top Democrat on Armed Services in 2011, and Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who became the lead Democrat on Financial Services in 2013.

Other longtime committee leaders include Reps. Frank Pallone at Energy and Commerce and Bobby Scott at Education and Workforce, who assumed their leadership posts in 2015. Rep. Richie Neal became the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee in 2017.

None would be able to continue in that position under the rules used by House Republicans, which generally limit lawmakers to three terms as chairman or ranking member.

For Democrats, the question is whether to stick with their current system, which emphasizes seniority, or move closer to the one that Republicans have established. It’s a discussion that some Democrats say they are having behind the scenes.

“I think that the idea of term limits could be appealing to the American people, to the Democratic base. It sounds Democratic,” said Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va. “I’m open to the idea. I’ve spoken to a number of folks who are open to the idea.”

“I personally think it makes for a more vibrant Congress, but I know I’m in the minority in the minority,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.

Party leaders are playing down the issue for now. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said seniority has always been a factor when it comes to committee leadership, but not the only one.

“The caucus is going to work its will as we move forward,” Jeffries told reporters. “At the end of the day, we can’t put the cart before the horse. We’ve got to still go out and win this thing in November.”

Democrats have been here before

Term limits are not a new discussion for Democrats. When they were weighing whether to return Nancy Pelosi as speaker in 2018, those opposing her bid wanted her to commit to limiting how long lawmakers could serve as House party leaders or committee chairs. She eventually agreed to serve in the post for no more than four more years.

No such restrictions were added for committee chairs. In 2022, Democrats voted overwhelmingly against a six-year term limit for committee leaders.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who has served as top Democrat on the House Rules Committee since 2018, called term limits an “artificial, random mechanism that doesn’t always serve the best interest of the institution.”

“I want people in chairs who are going to fight to get things over the finish line and make a real difference,” McGovern said. “Some of those people may have been around for a long time and some of them may be relatively new.”

Pallone said he intends to be the next Energy and Commerce chairman or ranking member. He called term limits for chairs “very undemocratic.”

“If people want to vote for somebody they should be allowed to,” Pallone said.

He also said that term limits can lead to short-term thinking from chairs looking at their next opportunity in the private sector.

“People serve for a couple years, then they go work for some lobbying firm,” he said. “What they do when they’re here is very much influenced by what lobbying firm they’re going to work for.”

Thompson also said he would like to serve again as top Democrat on Homeland Security if he wins reelection. He dismissed the way Republicans limit committee leaders to three terms.

“I don’t want to be like Republicans. I’m a Democrat,” Thompson said.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., says term limits have served Republicans well.

“It’s been really good to show younger members that you’re always going to have a path to leadership if you keep working hard, if you do your job really well,” Scalise said. “We definitely lose some good chairmen along the way, but we also get new leaders who otherwise would not have been able to rise up.”

Democrats have broken with seniority on occasion

Democrats don’t always stick with seniority. One recent exception is Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. He challenged Rep. Jerry Nadler for the job in late 2024, prompting Nadler, then 77, to step aside.

Similarly, Democrats selected Rep. Angie Craig to become the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee after she challenged the late Rep. David Scott for the post. Scott had been the panel’s top Democrat for the previous two sessions, but was in poor health.

Democrats also elected Rep. Robert Garcia last year to succeed Rep. Gerry Connolly on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Connolly died after a battle with esophageal cancer. Garcia defeated veteran Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts for the job.

“He has done, by everybody’s measure here, an incredible job,” said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas. “We would not have all of the Epstein files that we’ve gotten so far without his leadership on that committee.”

Casar called next steps for Democrats on committee chairs an “internal conversation.”

“I think at a minimum we should go to a system where it’s about who the right person is, and then have discussions about how we make sure that new blood comes in,” Casar said.

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said he hears less talk about term limits than past years, and he credits some of the changes Democrats already made.

“Last cycle, there was a lot of clamor, and you saw some changes,” Schneider said. “I’m not hearing similar angst this time.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington said she favors term limits, but emphasized that her view is no reflection of the current leaders. It’s more about helping Democrats develop a deeper bench.

“I just think it’s really smart policy and it’s really smart strategy to make sure that we keep building people skills, opportunities and leadership,” Jayapal said.

She said she understood when she first served in Congress a decade ago the longstanding concerns voiced by the Congressional Black Caucus about term limits hurting members who had just earned chairmanships, but believes Democrats have done a better job of diversifying the caucus.

“And we need to do more, but we are taking away opportunities from a lot of those newer members,” Jayapal said.

Some Democrats have talked about a hybrid approach that sets some limits, but not at the three-term threshold set by House Republicans.

“I don’t know what the magic number is, but endless is not the magic number,” Houlahan said.

​ Orange County Register 

First suicide memorial by a US archdiocese signals a compassionate shift by the Catholic Church

• October 9, 2026

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Charles Rubey recalls the moment when he realized Catholic priests needed to do a better job supporting families of those who died by suicide.

Two women told Rubey they had asked their parish priest to pray for family members who had killed themselves. At that time, the Catholic Church banned funeral rites and burial on consecrated grounds for those who died by suicide. Rubey says the women told him: “the first thing out of the priest’s mouth was: ‘Well, you know, your loved one is in hell.’”

But Rubey disagreed with the damning judgment. Seeking to ease the pain, he reassured them: “They’re with God!”

It was a turning point for Rubey. He began blessing bridges, railroad tracks and basements where people had taken their lives, and in 1979 founded the LOSS Program (“Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide”), a counseling and support service run by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. At 86, this ministry remains an important part of his life.

The Chicago archdiocese recognized Rubey’s work this year by dedicating in his honor a memorial to the lives lost to suicide and their surviving families. The archdiocese says the “At Peace” memorial at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery is the first of its kind by any U.S. archdiocese.

To Rubey, it’s a sign of the church’s shift toward a more compassionate understanding of suicide.

“They’ve made a complete turnaround embracing families who have lost a loved one to suicide,” Rubey said. “They’re no longer condemned or thought to be in hell.”

Catholic teaching still considers suicide a grave sin. But it acknowledges that mental health problems can lead people to suicide and says salvation is possible for those who take their own lives.

Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV has dedicated some of his monthly prayer intentions to people suffering from mental health problems and suicidal thoughts.

He called on the church to become “a safe space where everyone has a place — a community that accompanies and never excludes, that listens without judging and draws near without fear.”

The memorial’s location was carefully planned

Rubey and Bishop Lawrence Sullivan, vicar general of the Chicago archdiocese, designed “At Peace” during the COVID-19 pandemic, when mental health issues came to the forefront, intending the memorial to provide succor for people of all faiths.

“We used to tell people, ‘Buck up, just white-knuckle through it,’” Sullivan said. ″And now we understand, ‘No, there’s serious mental health issues out there.’ It’s not a question of willpower. It’s not a question of right or wrong.”

The memorial, which features sculptures of an angel and bronze doves, is located in a cemetery that is also home to the world’s largest Catholic mausoleum.

“We did not want this memorial hidden away and we were intentional in every detail,” Sullivan said when the memorial was announced. “This is not something we are ashamed of.″

Among those who attended the memorial’s dedication in June was Rabbi Marianne Novak, who joined LOSS after her 18-year-old daughter, Batsheva Chaya, died by suicide in 2017.

“It was important to have a place for people so that they could remember their loved ones in a loving way, not to focus on how they died,” Novak said.

Catholic burial for people who died by suicide

Until a 1917 church law was revised in 1983, those who died by suicide were denied Catholic burials on consecrated grounds.

“The church never showed an acceptance of suicide. … They thought that their adamant position would dissuade people from doing it,” said James Keenan, a Boston College theology professor.

He said a shift in attitude began with the reforms of Vatican II, the 1960s meetings that modernized the Catholic Church. It continued with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was approved in 1992.

That document says suicide is contrary to God’s love. But it also says “grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide,” and “we should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives.”

A turning point after a painful experience

In recent decades, a greater understanding of mental illness has helped shift the cultural view on suicide and influenced Catholic teaching.

The Rev. James Martin, editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, says the Catholic Church’s approach mirrors that of the broader society with more sympathy for all affected by suicide.

“To be able to extend pastoral care to the family members is extremely important, and to not make them feel any sense of shame or isolation, or judgment on them from the church,” he said.

That was the painful experience of a Michigan family.

The priest officiating the funeral of 18-year-old Maison Hullibarger in 2018 questioned whether the athlete and honors student would get to heaven after he died by suicide. His father, Jeff Hullibarger, told the Detroit Free Press he asked the Rev. Don LaCuesta to stop but the priest continued his critical sermon, calling suicide a “sin against God with dire eternal consequences.”

The Archdiocese of Detroit apologized, saying an “unbearable situation was made even more difficult.”

Maison’s mother Linda Hullibarger sued LaCuesta and the Detroit archdiocese, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress and more, but the courts sided with the priest on First Amendment grounds.

“That was really a turning point in many ways because the Catholic Church got such bad press,” said Mathew Schmalz, a religious studies professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

“It also shows that the priesthood in the United States, and I’d say throughout the world, needs better training in dealing with complex phenomena like suicide,” he said.

A call to expand mental health ministry

Ed Shoener, whose daughter Katie died by suicide in 2016, co-founded the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers to “educate parish communities to break down the stigma around mental illness and to accompany people in the midst of these struggles.”

The global association advocates for the Catholic Church to do more to improve mental healthcare.

In January, Shoener met with Pope Leo to thank him for his interest in mental health and told the pontiff that he hoped the church could issue an in-depth statement about mental health in the form of an apostolic letter or an encyclical.

This month, he returned to the Vatican for an event coinciding with Leo’s monthly prayer intention and World Mental Health Day on Saturday. Religious leaders and health professionals will gather to examine how parishes respond to mental health issues and how to best answer Leo’s call to establish mental health ministries to overcome stigma and discrimination.

That′s also Shoener’s hope. “I’d love to see this become just a fully integrated ministry into the church — that it’s a common ministry in every parish around the world, just like youth ministry.”

He and Ranana Dine, director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, hope the Chicago memorial will be replicated elsewhere.

“Creating physical spaces, landscapes, things that people can touch, sit in, be in, that tell them they’re not alone, that they don’t need to be ashamed, that give a physical space for grief, is really important,” Dine said.

AP Vatican correspondent Nicole Winfield contributed.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

​ Orange County Register