The Supreme Court won’t allow Trump to immediately fire head of whistleblower office

• February 21, 2025

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily kept on the job the head of the federal agency that protects government whistleblowers, in its first word on the many legal fights over President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.

The justices said in an unsigned order that Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel, could remain in his job at least until Feb. 26. That’s when a lower-court order temporarily protecting him expires.

The high court neither granted nor rejected the administration’s plea to immediately remove him. Instead, the court held the request in abeyance, noting that the order expires in just a few days.

​ Orange County Register 

Laguna Niguel estate with 2 homes and two pools seeks $30M

• February 21, 2025

Nestled in guard-gated Bear Brand Ranch, a sprawling 20,580-square-foot ocean-view estate with its own resort is poised to make history as Laguna Niguel’s most expensive home sold.

The asking price is $29.998 million.

If it sells near the asking price, it will best a transitional Spanish-style home across the street that closed Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) for $16.25 million and is less than half the size of this immense compound.

The estate occupies nearly 2 acres, secured by double gates, and encompasses two Santa Barbara-style mansions with separate addresses. included in the list price Together, they offer a total of nine bedrooms and 16 bathrooms.

According to listing agent Shawn Halan of Real Brokerage Technologies/Agent Inc., the previous owner who lived in the home above the lower property purchased what was then an undeveloped 1-acre lot on which he built an 8,671-square-foot home with a lighted tennis court with a viewing deck for his wife in 2006.

County records confirm the couple bought that land adjacent to their home on a three-quarter-acre lot in June 2004. They sold both the main estate house and its entertainment and sports pavilion, as described in an old listing, to the current owners in March 2014 for $15 million.

A staircase connects the two houses, cutting through the ground’s lush greenery and luxury resort-style amenities.

Each structure contains a wine cellar and a pool. The upper pool has a lanai room and a large patio, and it overlooks the lower property’s grotto waterfall pool.

Halan suggests that the property would make an ideal corporate retreat “because it’s like a hotel,” complete with two one-bedroom, one-bathroom villa suites with kitchens that overlook the tennis court. “Those are the only bedrooms for the property below.”

The lower property, known as “The Retreat,” lives up to its name. It features a gourmet kitchen with dual appliances, a movie theater, a karaoke bar, an indoor basketball court, a fully equipped gym, a sauna and “his” and “her” locker rooms.

It also boasts a 10-car subterranean garage.

The main house spans 11,909 square feet. Completed in 1993, it features seven bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, a game room and a self-contained mother-in-law suite wing.

“It’s a grand, elegant home with columns and a grand staircase,” Halan said. “Although trends and styles change … there are still people who love that classic Santa Barbara California meets Aspen vibe where the scale of everything is oversized but warm. There are lots of rich tones. The house has been very well maintained.”

​ Orange County Register 

One of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ attorneys wants to quit his defense team

• February 21, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — One of the attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs in his sex trafficking case wants to quit the hip-hop mogul’s defense team.

Defense lawyer Anthony Ricco filed notice on Thursday in Manhattan federal court that he no longer wants to represent Combs, writing “under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel.”

Ricco, one of six attorneys representing Combs, did not offer any details about the decision. The court must first sign off on his decision to leave the case.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges lodged against him after his September arrest. He remains incarcerated without bail, awaiting a May 5 trial.

Federal prosecutors say he used his wealth and influence to coerce female victims and male sex workers into drug-fueled sexual performances, and used blackmail and violence to intimidate and threaten his victims. Combs also faces several sexual assault lawsuits.

Ricco said he had discussed leaving the defense team with Combs’ lead attorney and added that the move would not cause a delay in Combs’ upcoming trial.

​ Orange County Register 

California wildfire aid will come with strings, President Trump’s aide says

• February 21, 2025

Federal wildfire aid to California will come with conditions, Trump administration envoy Ric Grenell said.

“The reality is that the federal response is mostly money, and so we are going to have strings on the money that we give to California,” Grenell, President Donald Trump‘s envoy for special missions, said at CPAC on Friday, Feb. 21.

Grenell, who has ties to Southern California, said the conditions are still being discussed in the Trump administration but criticized how the state manages water and forestry.

“As a Californian, I’m all for it because I don’t have faith that if we went back and we just gave California hundreds of millions of dollars, they are going to go back to their same old ways of not giving us enough water, having dangerous situations on the ground when it comes to forestry,” he said.

Historically, presidents have been reluctant to attach conditions to disaster relief. And most Southern California House members on either side of the aisle have said they outright oppose attaching conditions to federal aid.

Grenell didn’t specify what the conditions would be, but he suggested cutting funding from the California Coastal Commission.

The state agency, created in 1972, regulates land use and public access along the coast, overseeing development and protecting habitats. While supporters see it as a key environmental watchdog, critics say its strict rules block development and allege it is politically biased.

“Everyone who’s involved knows that the California Coastal Commission is a disaster, and it needs to absolutely be defunded,” said Grenell. “It’s an unelected group of people who are crazy, woke left … and they’ve made California less safe.”

“I think squeezing their federal funds, making sure they don’t get funds, putting strings on them to get rid of the California Coastal Commission is going to make California better,” he added.

This isn’t the first time the administration has said strings would be attached to aid. Trump has previously said that federal wildfire aid will be given only if California establishes a voter ID law and changes its water management strategies.

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, is an annual gathering of Republican politicians and conservative activists. It’s held this week at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland, about 10 miles from the U.S. Capitol. Speakers so far have included Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk.

Grenell has been a close advisor to the president, serving as his acting director of national intelligence during the first Trump administration.

Along with Trump, Grenell toured Southern California in late January to survey the damage left by the Palisades fire. (Trump and his delegation notably did not tour the Altadena area, where the Eaton fire left 17 people dead and more than 9,000 structures destroyed, including businesses, churches, homes and schools.)

Grenell has floated a bid for California’s governor in 2026, and on Friday, he said he doesn’t have plans to make a run for the state’s chief executive spot unless former Vice President Kamala Harris enters the race.

“We already know who she is. We spent hundreds of millions of dollars to define who Kamala Harris is. If she thinks she’s going to run for governor of California, a Republican is going to win, and I may not be able to resist trying to run against her,” he said to applause.

Grenell been critical of the state’s Democratic leadership, particularly Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, for their handling of the wildfires, saying on social media earlier this month that aid should have strings, otherwise, California would “have another catastrophic fire without water available to fight it.”

Wendy Broley, the executive director of California Urban Water Agencies, the nonprofit corporation that serves drinking water to most of the state, has said it wasn’t the water supply that was the issue during the fires but rather there were issues with the distribution system and strong winds hampered efforts to fight the fires from the air.

Also on Friday, Bass fired Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, saying it was “in the best interests” of L.A.’s public safety and the operations of the L.A. Fire Department.

Bass and Crawley have engaged in a tense relationship since the fires broke out in early January.

The fire chief recently lashed out against city officials, saying the city “failed” her and her department. Crowley also cast blame on the city for water running out when many of the hydrants tapped to fight the deadly Palisades fire went dry.

But on Friday, Bass said more firefighters could have been on duty the morning the fires broke out but “were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.” The Palisades fire gutted 23,448 acres, leveled nearly 7,000 structures and damaged 1,017 more. At least 12 people were killed.

Staff writers Linh Tat and Teresa Liu contributed to this report. 

​ Orange County Register 

Steve Bannon is accused of doing a straight-arm Nazi salute at CPAC but says it was just ‘a wave’

• February 21, 2025

By JILL COLVIN and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON, Associated Press

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Steve Bannon was accused of making a Nazi salute as he concluded a speech at a conservative gathering where President Donald Trump is slated to speak this weekend, but Bannon said Friday the gesture was merely a “wave.”

Bannon, who once served as Trump’s chief strategist and helped lead his 2016 Republican campaign, was onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of Washington on Thursday evening when he extended his right arm in the air, his palm flat, after imploring the crowd to “Fight! Fight! Fight!” — a reference to what Trump shouted after an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, during last year’s campaign.

The gesture drew immediate backlash due to its similarities with the right-arm salute linked in history to the Nazis and their allies.

“Steve Bannon’s long and disturbing history of stoking antisemitism and hate, threatening violence, and empowering extremists is well known and well documented by ADL and others,” the Anti-Defamation League, an antisemitism and human rights watchdog, wrote on X in response. “We are not surprised, but are concerned about the normalization of this behavior.”

Meanwhile, French far-right National Rally president Jordan Bardella said he had cancelled his scheduled speech at CPAC on Friday in reaction to what he described as “a gesture referring to Nazi ideology.”

“While I was not present in the room, one of the speakers allowed himself, out of provocation, a gesture referring to Nazi ideology. As a consequence, I made the immediate decision to cancel my speech,” Bardella said in a written statement.

Bannon, speaking to a French journalist from Le Point news magazine on Friday, said the gesture was not a Nazi salute but was “a wave like I did all the time.”

“I do it at the end of all of my speeches to thank the crowd,” Bannon said.

Bannon, whose “War Room” podcast is extremely popular on the right, also blasted Bardella for his decision to cancel, calling him “unworthy to lead France.”

“He’s a boy, not a man,” Bannon said, according to video posted by correspondent Claire Meynial.

He echoed those comments later Friday, telling The Associated Press, “If he canceled because I waved to the crowd like I did at the Front National seven years ago … he’s not a man and he will never be the leader of France.”

Online, some far-right users suggested Bannon had made the gesture purposely to “trigger” liberals and the media, while others distanced themselves. Nick Fuentes, a far-right influencer and Trump ally who uses his platform to share his antisemitic views, said in a livestream that Bannon’s salute was “getting a little uncomfortable even for me.”

Bannon’s gesture came at the end of a speech in which he repeated lies about the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and continued to press for Trump to serve a third term, something the Constitution explicitly bars.

“The future of America is MAGA. And the future of MAGA is Donald J. Trump,” he said. “We want Trump in ’28!”

Bannon is not the only person in Trump’s orbit whose gestures have come under scrutiny.

Trump adviser Elon Musk drew criticism last month after he slapped his hand on his chest and then extended his arm out in a speech at Capital One Arena celebrating Trump’s inauguration. But extremist monitors and experts said it was unclear what Musk was trying to convey to the crowd.

Musk “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute,” the ADL concluded.

Musk also pushed back. “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks,” he posted on X several hours after he left the stage. “The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”

Marshall Lerner, a Jewish conservative who attended CPAC but had not seen Bannon’s appearance or gesture, said he was bothered by how some critics look to link Trump’s Make America Great Again movement with Nazism and mentioned the criticism of Musk.

“It’s like saying if the Nazis got up in the morning and they ate breakfast and Trump got up in the morning and ate breakfast, he is doing things that the Nazis are doing,” Lerner said. “That’s silly. That’s ridiculous. That doesn’t make any sense.”

CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp defended Bannon, writing on X that he participated in the passing of resolutions in strong support of Israel and in opposition to antisemitism as they kicked off the conference.

“I stand w Israel and Bannon,” Schlapp wrote.

This year’s gathering, held in Oxon Hill, Maryland, has drawn a who’s who of conservative leaders and Trump administration officials, including numerous Cabinet members. Vice President JD Vance addressed the convention earlier Thursday.

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Kings, Doughty take on Utah after 4 Nations Face-Off final

• February 21, 2025

Drew Doughty and Canada conquered the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday, and now he and the Kings will square off with Utah HC, commencing a three-game homestand on Saturday.

Doughty was a late addition to the squad following an injury to Alex Pietrangelo and a recovery from his own malady, a broken ankle that required surgery. As he always has with the maple leaf emblazoned upon his torso, Doughty came through for his country. He added the first-ever 4 Nations gold medal to quite a heap of precious metals: two Stanley Cups (2012, 2014), two Olympic gold medals (2010, 2014), World Cup of Hockey gold (2016), World Junior gold (2008), a Norris Trophy (2016) and more.

“It’s an amazing feeling – the best, the best, the best feeling,” Doughty told Mayor’s Manor’s John Hoven after the final in Boston. “It’s been a long time since I felt something like that.”

Not only did he add to his overflowing collection of accolades when Connor McDavid’s overtime goal won the tournament for the Canadians, but Doughty contributed the champions’ highest net rating for a defenseman, per The Athletic. That came after playing just six games for the Kings, a trial run that more than satisfied the Canadian brass, who opted to invite Doughty over strong wire-to-wire performers at right defense this season.

It was the first tournament that could even approximate the “best-on-best” energy of the Olympics since 2016’s World Cup of Hockey, which won’t return until 2028. The burning desire of players to represent their countries and compete at that level was highly perceptible, especially as a build-up to next year’s Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy.

For Doughty’s part, he hoped that it would not be his last time skating in red and white.

“I think I played pretty well. I’m still not exactly myself yet, [but I did get] much better. I’m looking forward to making that team next year,” Doughty told Hoven. “I’ve already thought about that, that’s what’s wild.”

Doughty will don black and silver for the seventh time this season on Saturday, when his typical defense partner, Mikey Anderson, should also return after missing four games prior to the break with an apparent hand injury.

Though Doughty was still en route from Boston on Friday, signs pointed to Anderson continuing to play with Vladislav Gavrikov. With Gavrikov on his off side, the alignment left just two right defense spots for Doughty, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence and Kyle Burroughs, though the Kings could opt to dress seven defensemen as they have frequently under coach Jim Hiller.

Opposing them Saturday will be Utah, which will resume play six points back of the final wild-card berth in the West and eight behind the Kings. Emergent from the dysfunctional shadow of the Arizona Coyotes, the relocated franchise has designs on the playoffs, especially now that it’s healthier on defense.

John Marino played for the first time this season in mid-January and now Utah will get another rearguard back as Sean Durzi will face his former team on Saturday. It will be his first action since Oct. 14, when he sustained a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Durzi signed a four-year, $24 million extension over the summer, a year after the Kings traded him for a second-round pick that they flipped to Winnipeg in the Pierre-Luc Dubois deal. Durzi matched his career highs in goals and power-play points last season and set new personal bests in assists, points and plus-minus rating.

Utah at Kings

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV: FDSNW

​ Orange County Register 

Galaxy not looking to rest on their championship season

• February 21, 2025

CARSON — One look at the calendar and it wouldn’t appear as if the Galaxy had enough time to celebrate their MLS Cup championship and recover from last year’s grind of a season.

Diego Fagundez said he did.

“The monkey is finally off of my back,” he said of winning his first MLS Cup. “Like I said last year, we’re here for another ring.

“I think everybody is going to come after us, I think we showed in preseason that know matter who you are, we’re going to fight and take care of business and I think Sunday is a big statement. We did that with (Inter) Miami last year (in the season opener) and this year the same thing.”

Sunday will be the start of Fagundez’s 15th MLS season, his second full season with the Galaxy. It will also be the first season since 2015 that the Galaxy will start as defending MLS champions.

Last year’s run to the franchise’s sixth MLS Cup title was its first since 2014.

With Riqui Puig sidelined after tearing his ACL in the Western Conference final, Gabriel Pec could see his role expand even more. Joseph Paintsil will also be sidelined early as he recovers from a groin injury. That will also mean another expanded role for a player like Fagundez. He filled in last season as Puig was sidelined with a groin injury.

“Now that I have it (the ring), there’s another mindset that I said to myself that I want another one,” Fagundez said. “That’s what we’re working hard for. I feel really good. Coming in from preseason, only having six weeks off, I thought I did the right things to prepare myself.

“It kind of helps when you don’t have to work as hard to get there. You’re kind of already in that mindset. I didn’t really stop. I want to have a big year this year and I said to myself, ‘This could be your year.’ There’s a lot of missing pieces, so it’s time for players to step up and I said to myself that it’s my time to step up and help as much as I can.”

Ahead of this season, some faces have been moved out (Dejan Joveljić, Jalen Neal, Mark Delgado and Gaston Brugman) and some new pieces have been brought in (forward Christian Ramirez, midfielders Elijah Wynder and Lucas Sanabria and forward Matheus Nascimento), but the challenge of repeating is great.

No team has repeated in MLS since the Bruce Arena-coached Galaxy in 2011 and 2012.

“Initially, coming in and being champions, it’s going to be about committing to the new process and starting again,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “The challenges are going to be different in terms of how teams approach us. It’s going to be a different road to success this year.

“We have to continue to build off of the things that we learned about each other and about who we are last year. Integrate some of the new guys and manage each game and each situations appropriately. The challenges are the same every year, it doesn’t, you just have manage them as they come and find the solutions. I think we learned a lot about each other and about ourselves.

“We matured as the season went on. The starting point (this season) in preseason was higher than it was last year because we had more guys who were aware of our system and aware of their roles and responsibilities and have also created relationships on the field that weren’t in the same place last year as they are now. So we need to continue to mature as a team, we need to help integrate the new players into what we’re doing and help them build relationships with guys that have been here to establish timing, rhythm as we start a new journey and new process.”

The biggest challenge will be playing without Puig, who recently returned to L.A. after time home in Barcelona.

“It’s been great to have him around,” Vanney said of Puig. “There’s two parts to this: He has to focus on the things that are going to get him back on the field and if he’s around here all of the time, then he’s using resources for the training room. It’s finding the balance between getting him exactly where he needs to be to make sure he’s taking the steps that he needs to come back at the right time and the right way.

“But the second is having him around the group. His presence is unique and special. He has a great way connecting with players on and off the field and they love to have him around.”

The Galaxy made the big jump from 13th place in 2023 to MLS Cup champions. This season’s schedule will include CONCACAF Champions League play, starting next month, and the Leagues Cup in the summer.

“Everyone will want to beat us every single game,” defender and captain Maya Yoshida said. “We still have to be hungry to accomplish something. We’ve had good preparation so far. I feel much better than year before because we’ve already made our base last season. I’m pretty confident so far.”

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers’ JJ Redick realized ‘playing hard’ is NBA’s only cheat code

• February 21, 2025

PORTLAND, Ore. — During JJ Redick’s introductory press conference as the Lakers head coach in late June, one quote, among many, stood out.

When discussing how he envisioned handling rotations, managing players’ workloads, in-game management and the variety of responsibilities an NBA head coach is tasked with, Redick made it clear there’d be collaboration with the analytics and performances teams.

It was also evident that a similar approach was being taken when it came to modernizing the Lakers’ game plans, with an emphasis on attempting more 3-pointers, generating high-value shots, pace and creating a greater margin for error with possessions advantages.

Or as Redick put it at the time: “I’m going to use math. I’m going to use math.”

But after the Lakers’ road win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, which was the second night of a back-to-back after Wednesday’s home loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Redick shared an epiphany he recently had.

“I had this revelation, like I don’t know, six weeks ago, two months ago – the math stuff, it’s important,” Redick said. “It really is. Guys have to communicate, all that stuff. [But] there’s actually only one cheat code in the NBA, and that’s playing hard.

“If you play hard every night, you have a chance to win. If you don’t play hard every night, you’re probably going to lose.”

Consistently playing with high-level effort and attention to detail has plagued the Lakers’ during their lowest moments over the past few seasons.

“In the past, especially my first two years, maybe a little bit in my third year, last year, I don’t know if we’d have won this game,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said Thursday. “In the past, young, athletic teams that play really hard, obviously, have to match their physicality and pace and stay poised through it all.

“And I feel like this year, we’ve done a really good job of matching that intensity and also playing with IQ as well. So I think that’s a major leap from what we’ve done in the past.”

But in the Lakers’ best moments, and their most impressive wins, their effort has been evident, even when their execution hasn’t been crisp, which was the case in the win over the Trail Blazers.

The Lakers turned the ball over season-worst 24 times for 31 Trail Blazers’ points.

Their 18-point second-quarter lead dwindled down to zero by the early minutes of the fourth.

But their effort, and the plays where it’s most required, prevented them from letting go of the rope in ways they may have in previous seasons or even earlier this season.

They outrebounded the Blazers (48-33) on the offensive (11-6) and defensive (37-27) glass. The Lakers’ leading scorers for the game, LeBron James (40) and Reaves (32), made multiple clutch defensive plays.

And Thursday wasn’t an aberration.

The Lakers entered Friday tied for the league’s second-best record since Jan. 15, going 13-4 in that stretch, in large part because of their improved effort.

The Denver Nuggets, who are on a nine-game winning streak, are tied with the Lakers for the league’s second-best record since Jan. 15.

The Lakers will close out their stretch of three games in four nights with a matchup against the Nuggets on Saturday at Ball Arena.

“It’s just a more of a reflection on like the good stretches, the bad stretches, who we beat, who we lost and feel like against certain teams that maybe we weren’t supposed to win,” Redick said of his revelation, “it was like blatantly obvious that we won because we played harder. That’s where that comes from.”

The Lakers understand there will be bumps in the road as they continue to incorporate All-Star Luka Doncic, who sat out Thursday as the team managed his left calf that sidelined him for 6½ weeks before he made his Lakers debut Feb. 10.

But they also know that playing hard will create a greater margin of error as they work through the kinks.

“That’s the best way to play in this league,” James said. “The best way to compete in this league is to play hard. You can get through a lot of games if you’re able to just play hard. You’re able to cover up for a lot of mistakes.”

LAKERS AT NUGGETS

When: 5:30 p.m. PT Saturday

Where: Ball Arena, Denver

TV/radio: KABC (Ch. 7)/710 AM

​ Orange County Register