Dana Hills football finding ways to win in quest for outright league title

• October 17, 2023

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Dana Hills football coach Tony Henney uses a colorful phrase to describe a momentum-shifting performance that succeeds despite slim chances.

The veteran coach calls those moments “stealing a play,” and they’re pushing the Dolphins closer toward one of their biggest goals for the season.

Dana Hills, for example, returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last week in a 21-20 victory against reigning state champion Laguna Hills in the teams’ Pacific Coast League opener.

Henney doesn’t believe any of his former squads ever accomplished such a feat, and he guided Nordhoff and Trabuco Hills to CIF-SS championships before arriving at Dana Hills in 2021.

The Dolphins also stopped a fourth-and-goal from their 3-yard line in the third quarter against Laguna Hills, which was riding a section-leading 15-game winning streak.

“The kids are finding ways to win,” Henney said of Dana Hills, which is 6-2 overall. “We had to steal a few plays to win.”

Senior Noah Kucera sparked the efforts against Laguna Hills by returning the opening kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown.

Junior Owen Walz followed early in the second quarter by returning a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown.

Henney credited Kucera and Walz for their speed and patience on the returns, along with the Dolphins’ blocking.

“I think (Laguna Hills) is a good football team,” the coach said. “(Our) kids did their assignments.”

Dana Hills also received an eye-opening performance from junior Grant Peters, who filled in for injured sophomore Charlie Eckl at outside linebacker.

Peters contributed nine total tackles to support inside linebackers Cooper Walsh (12 tackles) and Dominic Barto (nine tackles).

Dana Hills received similar step-up performances in a 14-7 victory against Irvine on Oct. 6.

Walz, a transfer from San Clemente, shifted from running back to quarterback to fill in for sophomore starter Jace Lowe.

Kucera, a wide receiver and safety, also sealed the victory with an interception with about 30 seconds left on another goal-line stand.

The inspired play, along with the healthy return of wide receiver Chase Berry, has Dana Hills contending for its first outright league title in school history.

The Dolphins play at Portola (4-4, 0-1) on Friday before playing host to Northwood (4-4, 1-0) — a state championship runner-up last season — in Week 10.

“Our goal was to win our first outright league title and we’re on pace to that,” Henney said. “But it’s the old Kobe Bryant saying: job is not finished.”

TROY THOMAS MAKING AN IMPACT AT EDISON

Former Servite head coach Troy Thomas is taking a major role guiding Edison’s defense.

Last week in a 31-28 victory against Newport Harbor, Thomas led the defensive meeting at halftime on the field as the Chargers tried to cool off Sailors quarterback Jaden O’Neal.

“I’ve learned so much from him and he’s progressed our defense tremendously,” senior defensive back Jared Schnoor said of Thomas, one of the assistants for Jeff Grady.

“He’s very intense. He’s very disciplined as well. It’s pretty nerve-wracking when he’s talking to you. He wants to make you a better player, which is why he’s a real good coach.”

Schnoor leads Edison with four interceptions.

Thomas is coaching one of his former Servite players in Edison linebacker Hoi Hansen, a senior who leads Orange County with 114 tackles.

NOTES

Former Orange Lutheran coach Jim Kunau is serving as a consultant at Santa Margarita. …

Los Alamitos junior Alonzo Esparza passed for 346 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for two scores in a 69-14 victory against Corona del Mar last week. …

San Clemente posted its first victory at Mission Viejo since 1998 — the final season of Tritons coach Mark McElroy — with its 20-10 victory last week. In 1998, the Tritons rallied from an 18-point deficit for a 24-21 victory against the Diablos. …

San Juan Hills (8-0) is off to the best start in school history. …

Troy (5-3, 3-0) and Sonora (7-1, 3-0) meet Friday at La Habra High for sole possession of first place in the Freeway League. The Warriors, who have already defeated league juggernaut La Habra, are seeking their first outright league crown since 2006. The Raiders, who play La Habra in Week 10, have never won the Freeway League title and last won league in 1973 in the Orange League. …

The CIF-SS Division 1 final will played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 24, the section announced Tuesday. Last season, the Division 1 championship game between Mater Dei and St. John Bosco was held at the Rose Bowl.

Please send football news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsitguy on X or Instagram

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​ Orange County Register 

The healthcare network that gives you more

• October 17, 2023

At Regal and ADOC Medical Groups, we understand that quality care is more than just seeing your doctor when you’re sick. It’s also about having the right resources available when you need it. That’s why being part of the largest physician led network in Southern California means more choices in finding the right doctor and healthcare that best fit your needs. We have been caring for the many diverse communities throughout SoCal for more than 30 years.

We have thousands of doctors and specialists to choose from and everyday resources that extend beyond the doctor’s office. With a focus on coordinated, whole-person care and disease prevention, we offer well-rounded support for you and your family through every stage of your unique health journey.

See why our members have chosen our network of doctors and hospitals: 

Largest doctor-led medical group in Southern California
Comprehensive network of thousands of doctors and specialists
Access to hundreds of local urgent care centers, labs and hospitals
Free online health education, fitness classes and more
Appointment preparation n In-person, online and telehealth visits n Preventive care
Patient resources and testing
Contracted with most major health insurance plans
5-star rating in Standards of Excellence from America’s Physician Groups

You’re never alone on your journey to better health  

“Regardless of where a member is at on their journey, we meet them there,” says Mindy Morgen, Vice President of Marketing and Health Education at Regal, Lakeside and ADOC.

“We work with members with a focus on making small, realistic changes that lead to lasting and meaningful healthy life changes.” On HealthyWayEvents.com, members can browse through daily offerings of free fitness classes like Yoga, Zumba and Strength and Balance, as well as Doc Talks, community events and health education presentations.

For members who have serious health issues or chronic conditions, Regal and ADOC offer chronic condition management programs and extra support custom-tailored to their needs. This can include resources like one-on-one health coaching, dedicated social services support, pharmacy consultation for patients and families, specialized care teams catering to short and long-term recovery and more.

“The goal is to provide a very customized and member-centered experience,” says Nirav Shah, M.D., Senior Medical Director of Regal, Lakeside and ADOC. “We believe in the importance of well-rounded and complete healthcare – access to providers that speak your language and understand your culture, extra support beyond your doctor’s office and a highly encouraging and comforting environment that is tailored to your goals and health needs.”

We help you get the most out of your Medicare 

Did you know? Medicare Annual Enrollment is coming soon, beginning October 15 and ending December 7, 2023. And because Medicare benefits change every year, it’s important to have your benefits reviewed by a licensed agent to ensure you still have the right coverage that meets your current needs for 2024. Make sure to also ask about Medicare Advantage, which can help reduce out-of-pocket expenses while providing coverage for dental, hearing, and other important services and care.

Regal and ADOC are devoted to the health and well-being of our members and the communities we serve. Our purpose is to better every life we touch through the way we care.

To learn more about Regal and ADOC Medical Groups, or about our doctors and your Medicare health plan options for 2024, call (866) 984-0527 to speak with a licensed agent, or visit regalhealth365.com

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County firefighter charged with hit and run crash in Dana Point

• October 17, 2023

A grand jury handed up an indictment on last week, charging a veteran Orange County Fire Authority firefighter with a hit and run crash that killed a man in Dana Point last year, officials said on Tuesday, March 17.

Jeffrey Richard Grasinger, of Rancho Santa Margarita, was indicted on one felony count of hit and run with permanent injury or death, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

On October 21, 2022, Grasinger, 36, is accused of striking the victim, 24-year-old Said Darinel Sanchez, who was crossing Pacific Coast Highway, the district attorney’s office said in a press release on Tuesday. The crash caused the victim to go airborne, spin through the air, and fall head first into the pavement.

Video of the collision captured the moment the vehicle hit its brakes before crashing into the victim, as well at the moments after the crash, including the vehicle leaving without stopping or rendering aid, the district attorney’s office said.

The vehicle was tracked to a home in Rancho Santa Margarita by Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigators, who found blood on the front of the vehicle and damage consistent with hitting a pedestrian.

Grasinger, an OCFA firefighter for 13 years, was determined by investigators to have been behind the wheel when Sanchez was struck and killed.

“Firefighters are public servants who are sworn to protect the lives of others,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the press release. “While another driver stopped to render aid after witnessing the collision, Mr. Grasinger, a professional firefighter trained to provide medical attention, drove off after hitting a human being. The fact that a sworn firefighter would disregard a human life so callously is not only disturbing; it is criminal.”

Grasinger was released on his own recognizance over the objection of prosecutors, who argued for bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 17 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

He faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison if convicted.

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​ Orange County Register 

The Alarm’s Mike Peters was hospitalized this time last year. Now he’s here playing concerts

• October 17, 2023

Singer-guitarist Mike Peters of the Alarm was in a dire spot at the end of September 2022. The leukemia he’d twice beaten was back, and this time a life-threatening case of pneumonia tagged along.

“I was in a bad situation,” Peters says of his illnesses. “And then there was a gentleman hovering quite close to my bed with a mask around his face.

“I looked at him, and he went, ‘Are you Mike Peters in there?’” the 63-year-old Welsh rock musician continues. “I went, ‘Yeah. I don’t feel like I look like him right now, but yeah, it’s me.’

“He goes, I’m a massive fan,” Peters says. “I’ve just come over from the USA to see my dad who’s down on the ward.’ He goes, ‘I was on the (Alarm) forum last night, with all the Alarm fans, telling them how ill you look.’

“I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s out now,’” he says. “Everyone knows.”

But there’s one thing you need to know about Mike Peters. Since he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1995, and then a second cancer, leukemia, in 2005, Peters has welcomed the chance to talk about cancer – his, yours, anyone’s.

Peters, who co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation after the first leukemia diagnosis, is probably the famous person least likely to be upset that news of a recurrence had been leaked by an overeager fan. So he told them even more.

“I didn’t want everyone to be as worried as it sounded,” Peters says. “So I wrote a letter to all the Alarm fans that I posted on TheAlarm.com, and I signed off with a word I’ve never used before.

“I can’t sign this off ‘Best’ or ‘Many thanks, Mike.’ I just signed it off with the word ‘Forwards’.

“And as soon as I wrote the word down, bang, there’s a song comes right into my head,” Peters says. “I thought, this isn’t about where I am right now. It’s where I’m going to get to. I’m going to get out of this situation by hook or by crook.

“In some ways, I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to write myself out of the situation and write a soundtrack that gets me back to real life.’”

Which is exactly what Peters did. The songs he started writing while in hospital in Rhyl, Wales eventually became the Alarm’s new album “Forwards.”

It’s that which brings him to Southern California for four shows this week, though, not entirely. Peters first decided to come attend the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in Long Beach on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 16-17.

And, as he’s often done in recent years, Peters will also go for a public hike to raise cancer awareness, walking from the Venice Pier to the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday, Oct. 19, and inviting anyone who wants to join him to come along for a song, a conversation, a human interaction.

Cancer and concerts

“The trigger was that I was invited to come to the Cancer Leaders’ Summit and take part in that,” Peters says on a recent call from the customs line at the Atlanta airport after flying to the United States from Wales for the first time since before the pandemic. “I thought, it’s a good opportunity to come to the USA on a little bit more of a challenge for a few more shows.

“Because a year ago, I was very ill and wasn’t sure if I’d ever get the strength to be able to come and play in America, never mind sing,” he says.

The cancer conference is another chance for Peters to do what he’s done for years now.

“I’ve lived with the word ‘cancer’ hanging over me and my family since 1995,” he says. “I suppose along the way I’ve become kind of an authority on surviving and staying the distance and hanging onto life. So I’ve got a lot to impart in that respect, you know, to help humanize the stories that people have to tell through cancer.”

Playing music has provided an opportunity to talk to people all around the world about cancer, often under the banner of Love Hope Strength Foundation, often through walks like the one he’s planned here or more ambitious hikes in locales from Africa to the Himalayas.

“I perform and speak and talk about cancer,” Peters says. “I can hopefully make them aware of the second word in our charity, Love Hope Strength. Make them aware of the hope that’s out there for people receiving diagnosis.”

Love Hope Strength, which took its name from a lyric in the title track to the Alarm’s 1985 album “Strength,” focuses on programs designed to have an impact in the communities where it holds events. One key program is getting people to sign up for the international stem cell registry through which they match and donate to patients who need stem cells, Peters says.

When he and the organization do work in far-flung communities, they make sure the funds raised there stay there. A project in Tanzania helped create three new hospital wards for child cancer patients, each ward named with the Swahili word for love, hope and strength. An excursion with other musicians to the base camp on Mount Everest raised funds that went to buy the first-ever mammography machines in Nepal, saving women with breast cancer from traveling to India for that service.

“Whenever we’re on the ground, we like to keep the money in the shadow of the mountain,” Peters says.

Songs in the sick ward

When Peters realized in 2022 that he wasn’t getting out of the hospital quickly, he asked his wife, Jules Peters, who herself is a breast cancer survivor, to bring his acoustic guitar to the ward.

“The COVID protocol was still in place last year, especially in hospitals in Wales, and so it was quite a distance between me and other patients on the ward,” Peters says. “I felt like I was starting to get some ideas for songs and words, and I wanted to just make them come alive so I can record them quietly into my phone or something like that.

“Then it just became this thing that the nurses were hovering near my bed when I was playing my guitar,” he says. “They quite enjoyed it. And then the other patients went, ‘Play it a bit louder,’ you know, ‘Do you know any Beatles or anything?’”

Again, he thought about how cancer is relentlessly unified when it attacks – but we in our modern world often feel so disconnected from each other.

“But music is this one force that kind of brings us all together because everyone understands harmony and singing,” Peters says. “That’s what we tried to do, use the power of music to bring people together. Take some fun into the cancer world because it can be a very dark place to be involved.”

The songs that he wrote in the hospital are anthemic like Alarm classics such as “Sixty Eight Guns,” “Rain in the Summertime,” “Spirit of ’76,” and “The Stand.” And like those, they uplift with positive, hopeful messages.

“Songs like ‘Forwards,’ and the one that follows it on the album, ‘The Returning,’ that was where I wanted to get,” Peters says. “You know, I wanted my life, my relationship with my family, my kids, and to survive. I was longing to return back to real life.”*

Playing for people

It’s clear by now that Mike Peters likes people a lot, isn’t it? The pier-to-pier walk on Thursday is his chance to meet them in a personal way, using his music, his love, hope and strength to make connections.

Sometimes, he says, it almost seems like he was meant to be doing this even before cancer first visited him.

“When I sang ‘Strength’ in 1985, and sang the lines, ‘Who will be the lifeblood coursing through my veins?” I didn’t for one second think it was going to turn itself into a charity that’s gone on to register a quarter million people to the bone marrow register and find over 5,000 potentially life-saving matches,” Peters says.

“So I pinch myself every day that I got involved in all this,” he says. “It sounds ironic, and maybe to some people it sounds horrible to say, but cancer’s been a blessing in some ways in my life.

“Because it’s brought me into contact with so many inspirational people. Incredibly talented doctors and nurses, and people who’ve gone way beyond the call of duty and show incredible acts of selflessness to keep people alive.”

As for the shows he booked in Montclair, Temecula, Agoura Hills and San Juan Capistrano this week, they’re billed as acoustic Alarm shows but Peters says there’s a bit more electricity involved than that might suggest.

“It’s really electro-acoustic, quite a big noise,” he says. “It’s like a one-man version of the White Stripes, so be prepared. It’s not Simon and Garfunkel, put it that way, as great as they are.”

Mike Peters of the Alarm

Wednesday, Oct. 18: Doors at 6 p.m., show at 8 p.m. at The Canyon, 5060 E. Montclair Plaza, No. 2020 Montclair.

Thursday, Oct. 19: Walking from Venice Pier to Santa Monica Pier, playing music and talking along the way. For details and to register for the free event go to Lovehopestrength.org and click on the event.

Friday, Oct. 20: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Wiens Winery, 35055 Via Del Ponte, Temecula

Saturday, Oct. 21: Doors at 6 p.m., headliner at 9 p.m. at The Canyon, 28912 Roadside Dr., Agoura Hills

Sunday, Oct. 22: Doors at 5 p.m., show at 7 p.m. at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano

​ Orange County Register 

Did he pull the trigger? Prosecutors seeking to recharge Alec Baldwin in fatal movie-set shooting

• October 17, 2023

By MORGAN LEE

SANTA FE, N.M. — Special prosecutors said Tuesday they are seeking to recharge actor Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie in New Mexico two years ago.

New Mexico-based prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said they’ll present evidence grand jury within the next two months, noting that “additional facts” have come to light in the October 2021 fatal shooting on the set of “Rust” during filming on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

Baldwin, a coproducer of the film, was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the film’s set outside Santa Fe when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.

Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed in October 2021 on a New Mexico movies set by a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin, is seen above attending the SAGindie Sundance Filmmakers Reception at Cafe Terigo on Jan. 28, 2019 in Park City, Utah. (File photo by Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie)

Special prosecutors in April initially dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, saying at the time that they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. They later pivoted and began weighing whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after receiving a new analysis of the gun.

The gun analysis from experts in ballistics and forensic testing based in Arizona and New Mexico relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun fired by Baldwin — after parts of the pistol were broken during earlier testing by the FBI. The report examined the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge to conclude that the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.

Alec Baldwin movie-set shooting

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Alec Baldwin charged in fatal New Mexico movie set shooting

The analysis led by Lucien Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona stated that although Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, “given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”

The weapons supervisor on the movie set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case. Her trial is scheduled to begin in February.

In March, “Rust” assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the shooting.

The 2021 shooting resulted in a series of civil lawsuits centered on accusations that the defendants were lax with safety standards. The cases have including wrongful death claims filed by members of Hutchins’ family. Baldwin and other defendants have disputed accusations they were lax with safety standards.

​ Orange County Register 

Real estate brokers pocketing up to 6% in fees draw antitrust scrutiny

• October 17, 2023

By Jordan Yadoo and Leah Nylen | Bloomberg

The lucrative broker commission system at the heart of the US residential housing market is facing unprecedented antitrust scrutiny from the Justice Department and two private class-action lawsuits that risk weakening the National Association of Realtors, the industry’s powerful lobbying group.

Federal antitrust enforcers are poised to decide whether to pursue their own case after a years-long investigation, according to a person familiar with the issue. The Justice Department is focused on the real estate commission-sharing system that typically puts homesellers on the hook for a 5% to 6% cut of the sale, split between their agent and the buyer’s agent.

It’s a structure largely unique to the US, preserved by the association’s control of many of the country’s multiple listing services — an essential tool that aggregates properties available for sale in a given region. To use the system, NAR requires sellers to offer compensation to the buyer’s representative, which critics say inflates home prices.

Also see: Lawmakers look to expand capital gains tax exemptions as housing prices soar

This practice will also be on trial in two antitrust class actions, including one beginning Monday in Missouri. That case could result in as much as $4 billion in damages, while plaintiffs in an Illinois trial early next year are seeking as much as $40 billion.

The commission-sharing structure equates to “collusion,” Michael Ketchmark, the lead plaintiffs’ attorney in the Missouri case, said in an interview. “The day of accountability is coming.”

The DOJ began investigating residential real estate under the Trump administration, and NAR agreed to measures, including increased price transparency, to settle the case. Biden officials in 2021 pulled out of that agreement, saying they wanted the ability to pursue future antitrust claims against the group, but a federal judge in January said the DOJ is still bound by that settlement. The department is appealing that decision, as the Biden administration expands antitrust scrutiny outside traditional areas.

Also see: Builders, landlords and renter advocates take sides in rooftop solar debate

The Justice Department declined to comment.

‘Seismic change’

The damages sought in the two civil cases – based on allegedly inflated commissions in each of those markets – would be a blow to the realtor association and the major brokerages listed as co-defendants that haven’t already settled. Re/Max and Anywhere Real Estate Inc. agreed to pay $55 million and $83.5 million, respectively, and to no longer require agents to belong to NAR.

But the bigger threat to the industry as a whole would be a nationwide case brought by the Justice Department to dismantle the commission-sharing structure altogether. In the worst-case scenario for the industry, the federal government could seek to ban sharing commissions, prohibiting sellers’ agents from compensating buyers’ agents.

More on housing: Homebuyers hit the brakes, ‘smothering’ the mortgage marketplace

“Our guess is that the lawsuits in Missouri and Illinois will not go that far, but it’s possible,” Redfin Corp. Chief Executive Officer Glenn Kelman said in an interview. “We think that DOJ action is necessary to reach that level, and that would be a seismic change — basically, half the real estate agents in this country would be unemployed.”

Redfin, an online real estate firm, also withdrew from the National Association of Realtors earlier this month, citing its long-held concerns about agent compensation.

Commission rates, which often get baked into a home’s listing price, are an attractive target for the Biden administration as low housing supply and spiraling mortgage costs combine to create the least affordable housing market in four decades. On a $407,100 house — the median existing-home sales price — a 5.5% commission comes to about $22,390.

Related: President of National Association of Realtors resigns amid misconduct allegations

In some parts of the world, total commissions for each sale are significantly lower – around 2% in countries like Australia and the UK.

The Justice Department highlighted the issue in a recent court filing asking a federal judge in Boston to hold off on approving a potential settlement in another antitrust suit challenging commission rules.

The Justice Department “is concerned about policies, practices, and rules in the residential real estate industry that may increase broker commissions,” the agency said, asking for a two-month delay to offer further thoughts on the issue.

Lower payout

Completely untying buyer and seller agent fees could eventually lower commissions by as much as $30 billion annually, according to a study by the Consumer Federation of America, a watchdog group. If aspiring homeowners had to pay agents directly, they would likely shop around before hiring one — increasing competition — or pay an hourly or flat-fee service to handle paperwork at closing.

“Increasingly the industry is accepting the fact that the rates will eventually be untied, and they’re just trying to delay it,” Steve Brobeck, former executive director of CFA, said in an interview.

NAR says the existing system opens the door to first-time home-buyers, especially from minority and lower income groups.

“This case is very much about buyer representation and that being at risk,” Mantill Williams, a spokesman for NAR, said in an emailed statement. He said buying a home is a consequential decision and people “shouldn’t be forced to go it alone.”

NAR has said the buyer commission offer doesn’t have to be the traditional 2.5% – the group recently said it could even be $0. But that higher rate persists in most transactions as sellers fear that listing with lower payouts for buyers’ agents would cause them to steer clients away — a concern borne out by recent research.

Indeed, in an email to Re/Max affiliates describing the company’s settlement in the civil case, President and CEO Nick Bailey reminded agents of their “professional obligation” to show properties regardless of the compensation offer.

These changes could also put the future of the National Association of Realtors in doubt. The group collects $150 in annual dues from more than 1.5 million agents. It’s a moment of reckoning for the group that last year surpassed the US Chamber of Congress to be the biggest spender on lobbying in the US, laying out more than $80 million in 2022.

This unprecedented pressure poses an “existential threat,”  according to David Greer, who worked with NAR for over a decade. He said the prospect of buyers’ agents exiting the industry – and taking their membership dues with them – in the wake of any reform has left NAR “immensely afraid.”

​ Orange County Register 

How much are Magic Key annual passholders worth to Disneyland?

• October 17, 2023

The $9.5 million Magic Key class action settlement offers a glimpse behind the curtain that Disneyland rarely shares with the public and provides a rough estimate of what annual passholders are worth to the Anaheim theme park.

Disney agreed in September to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that annual passholders who purchased the $1,399 Dream Key in 2021 were unable to make theme park reservations at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure despite the promise of “no blockout dates.”

SEE ALSO: Disneyland fight breaks out in Fantasyland with kids and strollers stuck in the middle

As a result of the class action suit, each of the 103,435 Dream Key annual passholders will get $67.41.

With a little back-of-the-napkin math, those few numbers offer surprising insight into the billions Disneyland takes in annually from Magic Key passholders and daily visitors.

While $67 won’t even pay for a ticket to Disneyland on the cheapest day of the year, the $9.5 million Magic Key class action settlement represents a refund of nearly three weeks of theme park access for annual passholders.

SEE ALSO: The biggest winners in the Disneyland Magic Key settlement aren’t annual passholders

Crunching the numbers, the Dream Key cost passholders about $3.83 per day — an amazing bargain compared to the $104 to $194 visitors pay for daily admission.

Disneyland’s lawyers basically agreed to pay Dream Key passholders for about 18 days of access to the Anaheim theme parks in the class action lawsuit.

The $67 payout works out to just under 5% of the cost of a $1,399 Dream Key annual pass.

SEE ALSO: How to get your Disneyland Magic Key class action settlement

The $9.5 million settlement represents just under 7% of the $144.7 million Disneyland raked in from 103,435 Dream Key passholders in 2021.

The settlement offers the first official headcount of Magic Key annual passholders — a number that Disneyland has carefully guarded for decades.

Disneyland has raised prices on annual passes since 2021 and recast the Dream Key as the Inspire Key. There’s no way of knowing if there are still just over 100,000 Inspire keyholders today — but the number serves as a good estimate.

SEE ALSO: Why Disneyland raised ticket prices while Disney World didn’t

What the settlement doesn’t reveal is the full size of the annual passholder army. Disneyland breaks the Magic Key passes into four tiers: $1,649 Inspire Key, $1,249 Believe Key, $849 Enchant Key and $499 Imagine Key.

If the four Magic Key tiers were divided equally, Disneyland’s annual take would be $439.2 million from 413,740 passholders.

Disneyland’s yearly haul grows much larger if the Inspire keyholders represent roughly 10% of 1 million passholders — the long-held and widely accepted estimate.

If the three lowest Magic Key tiers were divided equally, Disneyland’s 1 million passholders would drop $949.7 million annually into Disney’s coffers.

SEE ALSO: Disneyland playtests cute droid trio in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge

Passholders make up only a portion of the total attendance for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

Disneyland’s 16.9 million visitors in 2022 was 90% of the 18.7 million that came to the park in 2019, according to the TEA/AECOM report. Disney California Adventure did slightly better at 91% — tallying 9 million visitors in 2022 compared to 9.9 million in 2019.

Annual passholders comprise an estimated 50% of Disneyland attendance, according to UBS financial analysts.

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Disneyland and DCA daily visitors pay an average of $149 per day to get into the parks. That’s probably on the low side when you factor in parkhoppers, after-hour events and multi-day tickets.

If 12.95 million daily visitors came to the parks in 2022, that works out to $1.9 billion walking through the front gates. With the slightly higher 14.3 million daily visitors in 2019, Disneyland’s annual gate revenue jumps to $2.1 billion.

Adding up the back-of-the-napkin math, Disneyland brings in a staggering $2.3 billion to $3 billion annually from Magic Key passholders and daily visitors.

​ Orange County Register 

The new vaccines and you: Americans better armed than ever against the winter blechs

• October 17, 2023

Amy Maxmen | (TNS) KFF Health News

Last year’s “triple-demic” marked the beginning of what may be a new normal: a confluence of respiratory infections — RSV, influenza, and COVID-19 — will surge as the weather cools each year.

Like blizzards, the specific timing and severity of these outbreaks are hard to forecast. But their damage can be limited in more ways than ever before. More protective vaccines against influenza are on the horizon. And new vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, were approved this year, as were updated COVID vaccines. Although the first days of rollout for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines saw hiccups, with short supplies at some pharmacies and billing confusion with some insurers, the shots now are generally available at no cost.

What’s more, after enduring the worst pandemic in a century, people are more attuned to protecting themselves and those around them. Wearing face masks and staying home when sick can stop the spread of most respiratory infections. The rate of flu vaccinations has climbed over the past five years.

“It seems like the pandemic reminded them of how important vaccination is,” said Brian Poole, a microbiologist at Brigham Young University in Utah. In a study of college students, Poole and other researchers found that flu vaccination rates have nearly tripled since 2007, from 12% to 31% in the respiratory infection season of 2022-23. Only a minority of students expressed “vaccine fatigue.”

There is, however, one dangerous departure from the past. Vaccination has become politicized, with college students and older adults who identify as Republican or conservative being less likely to get COVID vaccines, as well as vaccinations against flu. Before 2018, studies found that political affiliation had no influence on vaccine uptake. But as measures to limit COVID, such as school and church closures, became controversial, some political leaders downplayed the effects of COVID — even as the pandemic’s U.S. death toll soared above 1 million.

That messaging has led to a disbelief in public health information. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports data showing that COVID hospitalizations nearly tripled in the latest surge, with more than 40,000 hospitalizations in the first two weeks of September compared with about 13,600 in the same period of July. But in a recent KFF poll, half of Republicans did not believe in the surge, compared with just 23% of Democrats.

Messaging to minimize the toll of COVID also makes vaccines seem unnecessary, with 24% of Republicans leaning toward getting the updated COVID shot versus 70% of Democrats in the KFF poll. A larger share of vaccine-eligible adults said they planned to get, or have gotten, the flu shot and a new RSV vaccine.

“It’s important to recognize that the flu, COVID, and respiratory viruses still kill a lot of people, and that the vaccines against those viruses save lives,” said David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Flu vaccines prevent up to 87,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths each year in the United States. “I like to highlight that,” Dowdy added, “as opposed to making up terms like ‘triple-demic’ to make people cower in fear.”

Dowdy predicted this fall and winter will be better than the past few, when patients with COVID, influenza, or RSV filled hospitals. Even so, he estimated that more people will die than in the seasons before COVID appeared. About 58,000 people died from the flu last season, and hundreds of thousands more were sickened, staying home from school and work. This year, the flu doesn’t appear to be kicking off unusually early, as it did last year with cases picking up in November, rather than in January. And more people are partially immune to COVID due to vaccines and prior infections.

The effectiveness of flu vaccines varies depending on how well its formula matches the virus circulating. This year’s vaccine appears more protective than last year’s, which reduced the risk of hospitalization from the flu by about 44% among adults. This year, researchers expect an effectiveness of about 52%, based on data collected during South America’s earlier flu season. Its benefit was higher for children, reducing hospitalizations by 70%.

The flu’s toll tends to be uneven among demographic groups. Over the past decade, hospitalization rates due to the flu were 1.8 times as high among Black people in the United States as among white individuals. Just 42% of Black adults were vaccinated against the flu during that period, compared with 54% of white or Asian adults. Other issues, ranging from a lack of paid sick leave and medical care to a prevalence of underlying conditions, probably contribute to this disparity. People who have asthma, diabetes, or cardiovascular issues or are immunocompromised are at higher risk of a severe case of flu.

Sean O’Leary, an infectious disease pediatrician and the chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases, urges parents to vaccinate their kids against influenza and COVID. Children hospitalized with co-infections of the two viruses last year were put on ventilators — an intense form of life support to allow them to breathe — far more often than those hospitalized for the flu alone. And COVID is surging now, O’Leary said. Hospitalizations among children under age 18 increased nearly fivefold from June to September. “Almost all of our kids who have died have been completely unvaccinated” against COVID, he said.

The FDA greenlighted new RSV vaccines from the pharmaceutical companies GSK and Pfizer this year. On Sept. 22, the CDC recommended that pregnant mothers get vaccinated to protect their newborns from RSV, as well as infants under 8 months old. The disease is the leading cause of hospitalization for infants in the United States. The agency also advises people age 60 and older to get the vaccine because RSV kills between 6,000 to 10,000 older adults each year.

Rather than vaccination, the CDC advised a new long-acting antibody treatment, nirsevimab, for children between 8 to 19 months old who are at risk of RSV. However, the price could be cost-prohibitive — anticipated at $300 to $500 a dose — and many hospitals lack the staff needed to administer it. Although insurers cover it, the American Academy of Pediatrics warns that reimbursement often lags for a year. “We don’t have the infrastructure in place to ensure all children can access the product,” said its president, Sandy Chung, in a statement. “And that is alarming.”

If the wrinkles can be ironed out, said Helen Chu, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, better tools could arrive as early as next year. Pfizer, Moderna, and other pharmaceutical companies are developing mRNA vaccines against influenza and RSV that may more precisely target each year’s circulating virus.

Today’s flu and RSV vaccines are produced using traditional vaccine platforms, such as within chicken eggs, that are more cumbersome to handle, and therefore the vaccines take longer to develop each year. And President Joe Biden has awarded companies $1 billion to develop COVID vaccines that provide longer protection.

“The future is going to be all three vaccines together,” Chu said, “but that will be a while yet.”

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(KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

©2023 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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