No. 25 UCLA at Stanford: Who has the edge?

• October 20, 2023

No. 25  UCLA (4-2 overall, 1-2 Pac-12) at Stanford (2-4, 1-3)

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Stanford Stadium

TV/radio: ESPN/570 AM

Line: UCLA by 17

Notable injuries: STANFORD: OUT: S Jummy Wyrick (undisclosed); DOUBTFUL: WR John Humphreys (knee); QUESTIONABLE: TE Benjamin Yurosek (upper body). UCLA: DOUBTFUL: QB Collin Schlee (upper body); QUESTIONABLE: LB Ale Kaho (undisclosed), WR Titus Mokiao-Atimalala (undisclosed).

What’s at stake?: The Bruins have struggled on the road in conference play against Oregon State and Utah. A victory keeps the Bruins’ dim conference title chances alive. The Bruins, who have played the Cardinal every year since 1946, lead the all-time series 48-43-3.

Who’s better?: UCLA has more talent this season as Stanford continues to rebuild following the resignation of David Shaw after 12 years at the helm, in late November last year. First-year coach Troy Taylor arrived to find just six returning starters while also needing to replace quarterback Tanner McKee, a two-year starter who is now with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Matchup to watch: UCLA’s cornerbacks vs. Stanford’s receivers. Wide receiver Elic Ayomanor was productive in the second half of the Cardinal’s wild comeback victory over Colorado last week. The 6-foot-2 sophomore recorded 13 catches for 294 yards and three touchdowns. Cornerback Jaylin Davies was been an impact player in the UCLA secondary, with 19 tackles, an interception and four pass breakups.

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UCLA wins if: The Bruins will have success if they limit their turnovers while having the defense create turnovers and extra possessions. Quarterback Dante Moore must minimize his mistakes while leading the offense downfield. The true freshman has struggled throughout the first half of his first three conference games this season.

Prediction: UCLA 27, Stanford 10. The Bruins will have a bounce-back game and pick up their first conference road victory this season.

​ Orange County Register 

Jimmy Pham launches Assembly campaign days after dropping out of congressional race

• October 20, 2023

Five Democrats running against each other for a single seat was too much, thought Jimmy Pham.

So the Westminster attorney last week dropped out of the race for California’s 45th congressional district, opting to endorse one of his former primary opponents, Garden Grove Councilmember Kim Nguyen-Penaloza.

And he set his sights on a different campaign: the 70th Assembly district, officially launching his bid on Friday, Oct. 20.

California assembly district 70 candidate Jimmy Pham in Westminster, CA, on Thursday, October 19, 2023. Pham recently announced he’s dropping out of the crowded CA-45 house race to run for the state AD-70 seat. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

It took him several weeks to come to that decision, Pham said. Mentors and friends had reached out to him months ago telling him there was a need for a Democrat to run in AD-70, represented by former Westminster Mayor Tri Ta, a Republican.

“At first, I didn’t want to switch, because I was in the middle of a congressional race,” said Pham, who is of Vietnamese descent. “At that time, there were four people in the race. But when the fifth Democrat jumped in, it affected me.”

“There were now five Democrats running, and three were of Vietnamese descent,” he said.

The race for CA-45, held by Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, has drawn several candidates, including Nguyen-Penaloza, Brea resident Aditya Pai, UC Irvine Law grad Cheyenne Hunt and attorney Derek Tran. Nguyen-Penaloza and Tran are of Vietnamese descent.

Pham said he ended his congressional campaign “to unify the party.”

“Steel is going to be one of the two to advance past the primary,” he said. “So why are we fighting against each other? Why is the Democratic Party, in this instance, so divisive?”

The 70th Assembly district includes Westminster, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Stanton and Rossmoor, plus parts of Santa Ana and Huntington Beach. It was redrawn last year in the decennial redistricting process with the goal of ensuring much of the county’s Vietnamese community could be clustered together and retain political clout.

Nearly 40% of voters in the district are Asian, with Vietnamese Americans comprising the largest segment of that population, according to Political Data Inc.

Ta, who is in the midst of his first Assembly term, in 2012 became the first Vietnamese American elected mayor in Westminster, home to the largest Little Saigon in the nation, as well as the country’s first Vietnamese mayor.

He plans to run for re-election, he said.

“I continue to be humbled by the trust voters have placed in me to represent them in Sacramento,” said Ta. “I look forward to a spirited campaign and the opportunity to discuss the fight to improve public safety, make California affordable for all and to create real solutions to the homelessness epidemic.”

Another reason for the switch, Pham said, was that he felt the congressional race was “too much” for him at the moment. He wanted to work his way up the ladder, he said.

“If I’m going to build my political career, maybe I jump to the state level,” Pham said. “I jumped from being a city council candidate to a federal congressional seat.”

Last year, Pham ran for Westminster City Council but did not get elected.

AD-70 “is a better fit” for now, he said. “It’s a less aggressive approach in my political career in that it is more attainable … because one, it requires less money.”

Pham, who stressed money wasn’t the central factor in his decision, struggled to fundraise for his congressional campaign, raising a total of $29,890. A bulk of that came from a personal loan, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

According to the most recently available data, Ta has raised $169,481 and has $144,613 cash on hand.

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“Money was a concern, but it’s also going to be a concern for the AD-70 race. The AD-70 race is not a race that’s cheap,” he said. “And I’m going to still have to fundraise and money needs to still come in.”

Pham is an Orange County native and graduate of UC Irvine, and the only one of five siblings born a U.S. citizen. He said his family escaped Vietnam in 1975 via a refugee boat and found opportunity in the U.S.

“My father became one of the first Vietnamese dentists in the United States, opened a practice on Bolsa Avenue in Westminster and was one of the founders of the Little Saigon community,” Pham said.

Pham now serves as vice chair of Westminster’s traffic commission.

Several issues he wants to tackle in Sacramento are housing affordability, public safety and homelessness.

“We’ve had (multiple) smash-and-grabs in Little Saigon recently at the Asian Garden Mall,” he said. “Public safety is an issue; people are not respecting the laws. We also have to address homelessness. Westminster has a liaison team called Be Well. They have be more active in pulling homeless off the street. Most of these homeless are wounded and need a place to go.”

For now, Pham said he’s busy tying up loose ends and kickstarting his new campaign. His campaign staff has nearly doubled since dropping out of the congressional campaign, he said.

“I do believe I can win this race,” he said. “I’m already working to fundraise and get my name out there.”

​ Orange County Register 

LA equestrian facility protects rivers by getting horse owners to ‘scoop the poop’

• October 20, 2023

As a horse owner and general manager of the popular Hansen Dam Horse Park, Marnye Langer has spent years managing its 38-acre equestrian facility in Lake View Terrace.

Nestled between the 210 and 5 freeways in Los Angeles on the edge of the Hansen Dam Recreation Area, the facility can board as many as 200 horses and is equipped with riding arenas, jumping rings and access to miles of trails.

While running the busy park that hosts up to 50 horse shows each year, Langer recently ran into an unexpected problem: managing the horse poop.

As CFO of Langer Equestrian Group, a parent company that owns the facility, Langer has heard about horse stables getting slammed with fines after failing to properly manage horse manure, and for committing stormwater discharge violations.

But instead of spending millions of dollars on fancy catch basins and distilling equipment, she reached out to Duncan McIntosh, a consultant for Langer and the founder of the non-profit Earth-Riders.

McIntosh came up with a simple and catchy etiquette initiative that encourages horse owners to prevent manure piles from running into the water system.

“Turn the water off, scoop your poop, and have nothing but rain, down the drain,” said Langer, who adopted McIntosh’s catchy saying at her park.

McIntosh describes himself as a third-generation horseman and second-generation environmentalist. “The biggest opportunity for contamination to happen is when you wash horses,” he said. “(Horse owners) would just wash it down the drain because nobody taught them that it wasn’t a good option. So we talk to them about ‘scooping the poop’.” 

Langer is among the stable owners who are trying to keep horse manure out of rivers and other water systems, avoiding massive fines and potential closures.

According to estimates from the American Horse Council, nearly 700,000 horses call California home and are living in training facilities, backyard barns and racetrack venues. Annually, the City of Los Angeles issues licenses to nearly 1,500 horses that generate more than nine tons of manure every day, according to L.A.’s Bureau of Sanitation.

While horse manure may be considered organic, experts warn that it creates an environmental hazard, especially when it reaches rivers, creeks and eventually the ocean. The bacteria found in horse waste can lead to serious health problems for swimmers and marine life.

In recent years, a number of facilities have been shut down because of poor manure management.

McIntosh worked as a consultant for stable owners, advising them to properly manage the waste. One of his clients was Del Mar Fairgrounds, a 370-acre event venue in Del Mar, which runs the horse racing facility Surfside Race Place.

To help large stables stay open and navigate potential legal proceedings, McIntosh assembled an advisory board from legal, political, equestrian, and agricultural experts and launched his nonprofit Earth-Riders with a pledge to “transform horses from pollution villain to climate change ally.” Among his clients were three stables in San Juan Capistrano in southern Orange County, and in Rancho Murietta in Sacramento County.

McIntosh has been working for about a year with Langer and other stable owners to raise awareness to prevent the runoff of manure into the water system. His focus, McIntosh said, is to control costs and help stable owners avoid fines for water contamination.

Owners of equestrian facilities, he said, are not always aware that avoiding fines is not just about keeping their facilities tidy, “it’s whether or not it can withstand a storm and not lose a big pile of manure in a watershed.”

Installing equipment to process horse manure can cost millions of dollars, he added, as opposed to just “going out to the wash rack, putting up some signs and asking them to ‘scoop their poop.’”

The reason horse manure management has become an issue in recent years, he said, is because owners keep their horses at large stables instead of in their backyards. Some of the stables are designed to keep hundreds of horses, accumulating large amounts of manure that must be properly disposed.

It’s concerning, Langer said, that facilities are being slapped with fines that force them to close. Some of her fellow stable owners, especially those running large equestrian centers, have spent thousands of dollars on equipment, including catch basins and distilling equipment.

But Langer’s solution doesn’t cost a penny.

The group asks horse owners to pick up all manure from stalls, wash racks and arenas and deliver that stall waste to manure transfer stations around the facility. From there, it’s loaded and transferred to the Composting Partner, a company that accepts the horse manure for free.

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“Some people get lazy with their horse poop, and they just turn the hose on it and wash the manure down the drain, and they don’t think anything of it,” Langer said.

The park hosts about 50 horse events a year, which generate a large amount of manure. The challenge, she said, is to become poop scoopers instead of washing it down the drain.

“When you know better you do better,” Langer said. “I think we need to be responsible toward our waterways and our water resources.”

To raise awareness, she posted signs and wrote about her initiative in the park’s monthly newsletter while having conversations with horse show organizers.

McIntosh has been spreading the word of the initiative at other horse facilities, but Langer proudly said Hansen Dam Horse Park was the first one to adopt it.

Dealing with strict regulations and fines makes horse owners feel they are being pushed out of urban areas, Langer said, “so I think this is such a positive way to show larger communities, ‘Hey, we’re good neighbors and we’re good for a community in so many ways. And here’s one of many ways that we’re doing good.’”

​ Orange County Register 

Israel says it doesn’t plan to control life in Gaza Strip after war with Hamas

• October 20, 2023

By NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMYA KULLAB and JOSEPH KRAUSS

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel said Friday it does not plan to take long-term control over the Gaza Strip after an expected ground offensive to root out Hamas militants that rule the territory. The Israeli military punished Gaza with airstrikes, and authorities inched closer to bringing aid to desperate families and hospitals, as people across Muslim countries protested in solidarity with Palestinians.

Israel bombed areas in southern Gaza where Palestinians had been told to seek safety while it aims to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its brutal rampage in Israel two weeks ago. Fighting between Israel and militants in neighboring Lebanon also raged, prompting evacuations of Israeli border towns as fears of a widening conflict grew.

Speaking to lawmakers about Israel’s long-term plans for Gaza, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant laid out a three-stage plan that seemed to suggest that Israel did not intend to reoccupy the territory it had left in 2005.

First, Israeli airstrikes and “maneuvering” — a presumed reference to a ground attack — would aim to root out Hamas. Next will come a lower intensity fight to defeat remaining pockets of resistance. And, finally, “the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip,” Gallant said.

Gallant did not say who Israel expected to run Gaza if Hamas is toppled.

Israel occupied Gaza from 1967 until 2005, when it pulled up settlements and withdrew soldiers. Two years later, Hamas took over. Some Israelis blame the withdrawal from Gaza for the sporadic violence that has persisted since then.

As the humanitarian crisis worsened for Gaza’s 2.3 million civilians, workers along its border with Egypt began work to repair the border crossing in a first step to getting aid to besieged Palestinians, who were running out of fuel, food, water and medicine.

Over a million people have been displaced in Gaza. Many heeded Israel’s orders to evacuate the northern part of the sealed-off enclave on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called areas in southern Gaza “safe zones” earlier this week, Israeli military spokesman Nir Dinar said Friday: “There are no safe zones.”

U.N. officials said that with the bombings across all of Gaza, some Palestinians who had fled the north appeared to be going back.

“The strikes, coupled with extremely difficult living conditions in the south, appear to have pushed some to return to the north, despite the continuing heavy bombing there,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, said.

Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals were rationing their dwindling resources, as authorities worked out logistics for a desperately needed aid delivery from Egypt.

Generators in Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, were operating at the lowest setting to conserve fuel while providing power to vital departments such as intensive care, hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia said. Others worked in darkness.

“I don’t know how long (the fuel) will last. Every day we evaluate the situation,” he said.

The lack of medical supplies and water are making it difficult to treat the mass of victims from the Israeli strikes, he said.

The deal to get aid into Gaza through the territory’s only entry point not controlled by Israel, remained fragile. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would “thwart” any diversions by Hamas. It was unclear if fuel for the hospital generators would be allowed to enter.

Work continued Friday to repair the road at the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza that had been damaged in airstrikes. Trucks unloaded gravel, and bulldozers and other equipment was used to fill in large craters.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a rapidly changing situation said aid had been delayed because of ongoing road repairs, and that it was expected to move across the border Saturday. More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid were positioned near the crossing.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the crossing Friday and appealed for the quick movement of aid into Gaza, calling it “the difference between life and death.”

Israel has evacuated its own communities near Gaza and Lebanon, putting residents up in hotels elsewhere in the country. The Defense Ministry announced evacuation plans Friday for Kiryat Shmona, a town of more than 20,000 residents near the Lebanese border. Three Israelis including a 5-year-old girl were wounded in a rocket attack there Thursday, according to Israeli health services.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which has a massive arsenal of long-range rockets, has traded fire with Israel along the border on a near-daily basis and hinted it might join the war if Israel seeks to annihilate Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

The violence in Gaza has also sparked protests across the region, including in Arab countries allied with the U.S.

Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy airstrikes in Khan Younis, a town in the territory’s south, and ambulances carrying men, women and children streamed into the local Nasser Hospital.

An Israeli airstrike hit a Greek Orthodox church housing displaced Palestinians near the hospital late Thursday. The military said it had targeted a Hamas command center nearby, causing damage to a church wall. Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said 16 Palestinian Christians were killed.

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The Greek Orthodox Patriarchy of Jerusalem condemned the attack and said it would “not abandon its religious and humanitarian duty” to provide assistance.

Palestinian militants have launched unrelenting rocket attacks into Israel — more than 6,900 since Oct. 7, according to Israel — and tensions have flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Thirteen Palestinians, including five minors, were killed Thursday during a battle with Israeli troops in which Israel called in an airstrike, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. An Israeli border police officer was killed in the fighting, Israel said.

An unclassified U.S. intelligence assessment estimated casualties in an explosion at a Gaza City hospital this week on the “low end” of 100 to 300 deaths. It said intelligence officials were still assessing the evidence and the casualty estimate may evolve.

The report echoed earlier assessments by U.S. officials that the massive blast at the al-Ahli hospital was not caused by an Israeli airstrike, as Hamas has reported. Israel has presented video, audio and other evidence it says proves the blast was caused by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants.

The AP has not independently verified any of the claims or evidence released by the parties.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 4,137 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began. That included the disputed number of victims of the hospital explosion.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’ deadly incursion. Israel says 203 people were taken hostage into Gaza.

Krauss reported from Jerusalem and Kullab from Baghdad. Associated Press journalists Amy Teibel, Ravi Nessman, Julia Frankel and Isabel Debre in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy and Jack Jeffrey in Cairo; Matthew Lee and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington, and Ashraf Sweilam in el-Arish, Egypt, contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

South Laguna residents push city to stop using Roundup on trails, neighborhood streets

• October 20, 2023

It was an unusual view above her South Laguna Beach home as Jinger Wallace sipped her morning coffee.

It was late February and six or seven men dressed in white suits, some carrying packs with a liquid, were spraying on the hillside just about 100 feet above. Thinking something “wasn’t right,” Wallace, wearing flip-flops, climbed up and asked what they were doing.

They were spraying, she learned, to get rid of invasive plants as part of the city’s efforts to safeguard against fire risk.

That put Wallace on a mission to convince city officials to eradicate the use of the weedkiller Roundup, which she worries is toxic to residents and the environment.

Roundup contains the herbicide glyphosate; it was developed decades ago by Monsanto, which was bought in 2018 by Bayer. Glyphosate is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says its findings are the herbicide is not likely carcinogenic to humans when used as directed. Debate and legal challenges have gone on for years.

Bayer has said it would replace glyphosate in Roundup for residential use beginning in 2023.

“Bayer stands fully behind our glyphosate-based products, which have been used safely and successfully around the world for 50 years,” said Kyel Richard, a company spokesperson, in a statement.

“Leading health regulators around the world have repeatedly concluded that our glyphosate-based products can be used safely as directed,” Richard said. “Glyphosate-based herbicides are among the most thoroughly studied products of their kind, which is a major reason why farmers and others around the world continue to rely on these products to control problematic weeds.”

Roundup has been used for years by the city, said Mayor Bob Whalen, more recently in South Laguna starting in January. The effort is part of a wide-ranging fire management plan rolled out by the city starting in 2019 with blessings from the California Coastal Commission.

The city contracts with Nature’s Image Inc. to conduct the spraying for the fuel modification efforts and with the Laguna Canyon Foundation to monitor that environmentally sensitive animals and plants are protected – for example its biologists flagged the Big-Leaved Crownbeard and Coulter’s Matilija Poppy, considered threatened in the state, to be avoided. Around them, any weed removal was done by hand, said Jacky Cordero, interim executive director of the foundation.

Hand crews and goats also help eliminate unwanted vegetation to curb fire hazards.

Wallace and others in South Laguna concerned by spraying seen along hillsides, community streets and popular trail areas met with foundation and city officials in February and April, urging the spray be stopped.

“They wanted to assure us that spraying the Roundup is fine and that they had permits to do it,” Wallace said. “Lots of people came.”

But the residents left feeling they weren’t getting their message across, Wallace said. “We felt endangered and we wanted it stopped.”

Ramin Pejan, who also lives nearby and is a senior attorney for Earth Justice, said he noticed the crews out along the Valido Trail, a popular neighborhood hiking path that leads to a lookout on Aliso Peak and to other trails managed by OC Parks. He said there had been no signage telling people about the spraying.

“The day before they were spraying, we were literally eating sour grass — an edible plant,” he said of an outing with his children. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have known.”

He said that city and foundation officials agreed during the meeting with the community that “they messed up with the noticing.” Also it was discovered the city had not gotten the necessary permits from OC Parks, according to a recent report from the California Environmental Protection Agency in response to complaints filed.

Wallace, Pejan and a handful of other residents have since gathered signatures on a petition demanding the “adoption of alternative, non-toxic methods for weed control on public land.” More than 1,100 people have signed online at Change.org and 350 signed in person.

“It’s hard to find people who don’t know about Roundup,” Wallace said. “Ninety percent of the people we asked said, ‘Roundup, let me sign.’”

“People in South Laguna love the environment and look at the hillsides and realize the precious habitat that surrounds us.”

Recently, the concerned residents presented their information to a meeting of the city’s Environmental Sustainability Committee, which voted to recommend to the City Council that it ban all chemical pesticides, rodenticides and herbicides citywide.

The city of Irvine banned the use of Roundup in 2017.

In 2020, the Laguna Beach council banned the use of anticoagulant pesticides – they cause rodents to bleed internally – on all city properties. 

Committee member Judie Mancuso said the city of Malibu’s Earth Friendly Management Policy would be a great guideline for the city to use in developing its own policies for using alternatives to chemical products. Mancuso was instrumental with former Councilmember Steve Dicterow on the anticoagulant ban and has history with successfully championing legislation to protect animals.

“We are losing species like we’ve never lost them before,” Mancuso said. “Land mammals, birds, marine mammals. You think you’re killing plants, but it kills everything in the food chain and it causes cancer.”

“People have to do something at the local level,” she said. “We can’t wait to make it national and global.”

Since the residents’ uproar earlier this year, the Fire Department has improved its public notification process, Whalen said. “They’re giving property owners adjacent to the trail the right to opt-out and say, ‘We don’t want anything sprayed on our property.’”

And, Whalen said though the council has been told the spraying is the best option for fuel modification, “that’s not to say there aren’t alternatives.”

“Clearly, there is a lot to discuss,” Whalen said.

Jeremy Frimond, assistant to the city manager, said the residents’ concern “has the staff’s full attention” and that the discussion has a clear timeline to get to the council. The next scheduled spraying is in January.

“Let’s look at it and make sure each community is comfortable with it,” he said, adding that the chemical is only sprayed in specific locations in a targeted application. “Some people in some neighborhoods are more comfortable with it. South Laguna’s message, ‘We’re not comfortable,’ is received. We’re not dismissing their concerns.”

“We’re trying to evolve and go to the next steps,” he said.

Pejan said he hopes the concerned residents can convince the council to act before more spraying is done.

He points out Bayer had settled more than 100,000 claims for around $11 billion by May 2022.

“If it’s 100% safe,” why the big judgements, he said. “When you make decisions, you should be rather safe than sorry. If there is an alternative, you should use it.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Santa Ana residents to vote on rent control protections and maybe on noncitizen voting

• October 20, 2023

Santa Ana voters will be asked about the city’s rent control and just cause eviction ordinances – public support would make the laws harder to overturn in the future – and will likely also be polled if ballots in city elections should be extended to noncitizens.

City staffers have been asked to return at a later date with a drafted measure regarding noncitizen voting for the council’s approval – possibly in time for inclusion on the November 2024 ballot.

Also, a council majority on Tuesday put in place the requirement for a supermajority, meaning five votes, of the council to make changes to city laws setting rent caps and limiting when landlords can evict tenants. And the same four council members – Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, Thai Viet Phan, Benjamin Vazquez and Jessie Lopez – decided voters in November 2024 will be asked to affirm the need for the housing laws, which include setting rent controls annually at 3% or 80% of inflation.

If voters reject the measure, the laws will remain in place but could be overturned by a future vote of council; if voters support the measure, it would take a public vote to overturn the laws in the future.

The same four council members supported asking voters about extending participation in council elections. It isn’t the first time Santa Ana leaders have considered extending voting rights to the city’s noncitizen residents, who make up about 24% of the local population.

San Francisco voters in 2016 approved allowing noncitizens there to cast ballots in school board elections.

Councilmember David Penaloza, who opposed both measures along with Mayor Valerie Amezcua and Councilmember Phil Bacerra, said the council majority was making decisions without thinking about cost or implementation.

“Here we have a City Council majority putting the cart before the horse again,” Penaloza said. “It’s not so much that they’re bad ideas or bad ordinances, but it’s the process that they make these decisions under.”

Councilmember Thai Viet Phan said the least the council could do is leave it up for voters to decide.

“To me, giving these issues to our residents, to the voters of the city is sound and fair,” Councilmember Jessie Lopez agreed. “I am always going to be interested in understanding what the voters of the city think, because I believe that it can provide me with valuable insight.”

Giving noncitizens the right to vote for their city leaders is “important to make sure that our residents feel heard,” Phan said. “When we talk about who gets to vote, whose voices matter, what does that mean for us?”

Amezcua said her concern is there are too many unknowns surrounding the measure, not that she doesn’t support the immigrant community.

“This is not about immigrants,” Amezcua said. “This is about doing the right thing.”

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​ Orange County Register 

House Republicans reject Jim Jordan a third time for the speaker’s gavel as opposition deepens

• October 20, 2023

By LISA MASCARO, FARNOUSH AMIRI, STEPHEN GROVES and KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Jordan failed badly Friday on a third ballot for the House speaker’s gavel, rejected by even more Republicans from the conservative mainstream who warned the hard-edged ally of Donald Trump that no threats or promises could win their support.

The Republicans have no realistic or workable plan to unite the fractured GOP majority, elect a new speaker and return to the work of Congress that has been languishing since hard-liners ousted Kevin McCarthy at the start of the month.

In all, Jordan lost 25 Republican colleagues, leaving him far from the majority needed.

Ahead of the vote, Jordan showed no signs of stepping aside, insisting at a Capitol press conference: “The American people are hungry for change.”

Drawing on his Ohio roots, Jordan, who is popular with the GOP’s right-flank activist base of voters, positioned his long-shot campaign alongside the history of American innovators including the Wright brothers, urging his colleagues to elect him to the speakership.

McCarthy himself rose in the chamber to nominate Jordan, portraying him as a skilled legislator who reaches for compromise. That drew scoffs of laughter from the Democratic side of the aisle.

McCarthy said of Jordan, “He is straightforward, honest and reliable.”

Democrats nominated Leader Hakeem Jeffries, with Rep. Katherine Clark calling Jordan, who refused to certify the 2020 election, “a threat to democracy.”

“We need a speaker worthy of wielding the gavel,” she said.

But after two failed votes, Jordan’s third attempt at the gavel did not end any better — in large part because more centrist Republicans are revolting over the nominee and the hardball tactics being used to win their votes. They have been bombarded with harassing phone calls and even reported death threats.

In fact, the hard-charging Judiciary chairman lost rather than gained votes despite hours of closed-door talks, no improvement from the 20 and then 22 Republicans he lost in early rounds this week.

For more than two weeks the stalemate has shut down the U.S. House, leaving a seat of American democracy severely hobbled at a time of challenges at home and abroad. The House Republican majority appears to have no idea how to end the political turmoil and get back to work.

With Republicans in majority control of the House, 221-212, any candidate can lose only a few detractors. It appears there is no Republican at present who can win a clear majority, 217 votes, to become speaker.

“He doesn’t have the votes to be speaker,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said after a late Thursday meeting when Jordan sought to hear detractors out and shore up support.

The holdouts want “nothing” from Jordan, Gimenez said, adding that some of the lawmakers in the meeting simply called on Jordan to drop out of the race.

One extraordinary idea, to give the interim speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry, more powers for the next several months to at least bring the House back into session and conduct crucial business, was swiftly rejected by Jordan’s own ultra-conservative allies.

A “betrayal,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.

Next steps were highly uncertain as angry, frustrated Republicans predict the House could essentially stay closed for the foreseeable future — perhaps until the mid-November deadline for Congress to approve funding or risk a federal government shutdown.

“We’re trying to figure out if there’s a way we can get back with a Republican-only solution,” said veteran legislator Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.

“That’s what normal majorities do. What this majority has done is prove it’s not a normal majority.”

What was clear was that Jordan was refusing to step aside, appearing determined to wait out his foes even as his path to become House speaker was all but collapsing.

“What we saw with Speaker McCarthy in the 15 rounds is that he went down first and then he came back,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., referring to January’s historic election. “That’s where we are with Jordan.”

But earlier, Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., said “it’s not going to happen.”

Many view Jordan, a founding member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, as too extreme for a central seat of U.S. power, second in line to the presidency.

“Who normalized Jim Jordan?” asked Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, reiterating that his party was “ready, willing and able” to partner with more traditional Republicans on a path to re-open the House.

“One thing I cannot stomach or support is a bully,” said a statement from Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who voted against Jordan on the second ballot and said she received “credible death threats.”

A closed-door meeting Thursday to regroup grew heated at times with Republican factions blaming one another for sending their majority into chaos, lawmakers said.

When Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a chief architect of the ouster of the speaker two weeks ago, rose to speak, McCarthy told him it was not his turn.

“We’re shaking up Washington, D.C. We’re breaking the fever. And, you know what, it’s messy,” Gaetz said later, saying he had no regrets over the past weeks of havoc.

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Elevating McHenry to an expanded speaker’s role could be a possible off-ramp for the crisis, but it would not be as politically simple as it might seem.

Republicans are loath to partner with the Democrats in a bipartisan way on the arrangement, and it’s highly unlikely Republicans could agree to give McHenry more powers on their own, since their hard-liners don’t like it.

McHenry himself has brushed off attempts to take the job more permanently after he was appointed to the role after the unprecedented ouster of McCarthy more than two weeks ago.

To win over GOP colleagues, Jordan had relied on backing from Trump, the party’s front-runner in the 2024 election, and groups pressuring rank-and-file lawmakers for the vote. But they were not enough and in fact backfired on some.

Jordan has been a top Trump ally, particularly during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by the former president’s backers who were trying to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Biden. Days later, Trump awarded Jordan a Medal of Freedom.

First elected in 2006, Jordan has few bills to his name from his time in office. He also faces questions about his past.

Some years ago, Jordan denied allegations from former wrestlers during his time as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University who accused him of knowing about claims they were inappropriately groped by an Ohio State doctor. Jordan has said he was never aware of any abuse.

​ Orange County Register 

Economic ‘cracks’ will widen to mild recession in late 2024, CSUF economists say

• October 20, 2023

With the war on inflation far from over and continued economic weakness, a recession is likely to hit Southern California and the rest of the nation in the second half of 2024, Cal State Fullerton economists predicted Thursday, Oct. 19.

But it will be a “normal” or “garden variety” recession, not a Great Recession like the one that devastated the global economy in 2008-12, university economists said in their fall forecast.

Also see: Fed chair: Slower growth may be needed to conquer high inflation

And although government spending is masking the effect of “the fastest (Federal Funds) rate hike cycle in the past 40 years,” a soft landing for the economy is unlikely, they said.

“Like the Energizer Bunny, (the economy) keeps going,” Anil Puri, director of the Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting, told Orange County business leaders at the Disneyland Hotel.

Also see: Household balance sheets strong but high rates could add strain

But, he added, inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, leading to at least one or two more interest rate hikes in the months ahead. At the same time, employment growth is slowing, bank deposits are falling and consumer defaults are on the rise.

“We are at a turning point,” Puri said. “Things are starting to shift, and we have made our prediction of a mild recession sometime next year.”

Orange County’s economy appears to be faring far better than the nation as a whole, particularly when it comes to job growth, the forecast said. Although Orange County’s job growth has slowed this year — and has been hindered by the county’s high housing costs — it’s still more than twice its 20-year average.

Housing woes: Mortgage applications hit 28-year low as rates keep rising

High interest rates “don’t seem to be affecting Orange County as much as the rest of the country,” Puri said.

U.S. economic growth — as measured by the Real Gross Domestic Product — is projected to hit 2.2% this year but drop to 0.6% in 2024 before rebounding to 1.6% in 2025, the forecast said.

“Cracks are already starting to appear underneath all the good headline numbers,” Woods Center Co-Director Mira Farka said during Thursday’s 81-minute presentation.

Credit card delinquencies are edging up. Auto loan defaults are at their highest level since the Great Recession. If corporate bankruptcies continue at their current pace for the rest of the year, they will hit a high not seen since 2010.

Other key economic indicators, like lower long-term bond rates and negative Conference Board Leading Index numbers “have been ringing alarm bells that a recession is around the corner,” the forecast said.

Southern California is expected to follow national economic trends, although Orange County job growth has outperformed regional, state and national levels, Puri said.

Since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March 2022, Orange County employment increased 3.7%, compared with a U.S. rate of 3.6% and a California rate of 3.2%. In Los Angeles County, employment is up 2.8%, while the number of jobs is up a mere 0.5% in the Inland Empire.

“Look at Orange County,” Puri said. “Since the Fed started raising interest rates in March of last year, Orange County has done quite well. In fact, better than the rest of the region.”

Other forecast highlights include:

— The Woods Center index of Orange County business sentiment — based on a quarterly survey of Orange County executives — shows business confidence improving over the past 15 months.

“In general Orange County Business people have been feeling pretty good in the last year or so,” Puri said.

Survey responses show Orange County businesses expect sales to remain steady and don’t plan any layoffs.

— However, the Cal State Fullerton forecast for Orange County is “very similar” to the national forecast.

“We expect Orange County payroll job growth to decline,” Puri said, dropping from 5.3% in 2022 to 1.9% this year and 0.3% next year.

Employment levels are forecast to decline 0.1% in Los Angeles County next year and to fall 1.5% next year in the Inland Empire.

— Southern California home prices show no signs of weakening in the year ahead. That’s good news for homeowners, where home equity (or value after deducting mortgage debt) for a typical Orange County home increased by an “unprecedented” $430,000 since the month before the pandemic began.

— On the other hand, home affordability fell to the lowest level on record, with just 20% of Orange County households able to afford to buy a home.

“It’s a very difficult situation for people who don’t own their home,” Puri said.

— That high cost of housing is sapping the workforce in Orange County and throughout the region, driving workers to Texas, Arizona and Nevada in search of cheaper homes.

Orange County had a net population loss of 4.7%, compared with a loss of 11.5% in L.A. County and 3.7% in San Bernardino County, Puri said. Riverside County had a net population gain of 2.8%.

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​ Orange County Register