Are there too many council meetings?

• June 13, 2024

Is the primary duty of a legislative body whose members represent farflung constituencies to gather together in some central location for (yet another) meeting — or is it to serve the citizenry in the field?

This is a simple question that it would seem governmental bureaucracies don’t ask themselves often enough.

But some members of the Los Angeles City Council are calling the question, as it were, about whether their schedule of meeting three days a week en masse in City Hall really serves Angelenos best, and it’s an issue worth discussing.

It’s a big city, and while Downtown may be at its heart, L.A. is so sprawling, from the far West Valley to San Pedro, from Pacific Palisades to Pico Union, that the commute alone takes up a big chunk of council members’ time.

Once there, they’re pretty much stuck for the day. Of course citizens can and do make the trek to Spring Street themselves, where they are (more or less) welcome to, as the First Amendment entitles us, “petition the Government for a redress of grievances” during public comment.

We would just note what is perhaps impolitic to say: Many such speakers are from the seemingly professionally aggrieved, people with too much time on their hands, while the rest of us have to work, raising the same issues every meeting. Plus, the merely eccentric, not that they don’t have the right to speak as well.

As David Zahniser reports in the Los Angeles Times, Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Tim McOsker last week raised the idea of asking “voters for permission to reduce the number of required weekly council meetings from three to one.”

There’s the rub, or perhaps the purely democratic solution: The move would require a change in the City Charter, and thus citizen approval.

Yaroslavsky says she’s “restless and frustrated” from the myriad presentations of ceremonial scrolls and plaques during the thrice-weekly meetings, and, yes, from public comment: “A lot of it is the same 15 people screaming racist, misogynistic, antisemitic epithets.”

There’s resistance from some to putting the issue on the Nov. 5 ballot. Certainly there are other priorities. But the Board of Supervisors runs the county with one weekly meeting. The council could run the city that way, too.

​ Orange County Register 

CSUF’s new dean excited about research, serving first-generation students

• June 13, 2024

Celestina Barbosa-Leiker will soon be back in familiar surroundings.

Barbosa-Leiker, a longtime resident of Orange County, has been appointed dean of Cal State Fullerton’s College of Health and Human Development.

For the past 14 years, Barbosa-Leiker has been an educator at Washington State University, serving as executive vice chancellor and professor in the College of Nursing at WSU Health Sciences Spokane for the past 17 months.

When she steps into her new role at CSUF on July 1, Barbosa-Leiker will oversee 7,000 students and more than 365 faculty members in the College of Health and Human Development.

Barbosa-Leiker was drawn to CSUF’s College of Human Development, in large part, because of the college’s commitment to meet the health care workforce needs of the region and its contributions to research, along with its emphasis on serving first-generation students.

When researching whether CSUF would be a good fit, Barbosa-Leiker was “blown away” upon discovering that the university is among the most affordable in the nation and is ranked No.1 in California and No.3 in the nation for the number of underrepresented undergraduate students among the student population.

“I was really inspired by that and really …  coming from community college as a transfer student, and understanding that experience, all of that completely resonated with me with who I am and with my internal values.”  Barbosa-Leiker said. “The college is uniquely situated to help the region and really beyond too.”

The College of Health and Human Development offers degrees in child and adolescent studies, kinesiology, counseling, human services, nursing, public health and social work.

“Celestina has a strong sense of our mission for moving the college forward,” said Amir Dabirian, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “I am confident that our campus community will welcome her with open arms.”

Barbosa-Leiker was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley before moving to Anaheim.

She attended Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut and Fullerton Community College.

The soon-to-be dean went on to earn a master’s degree and doctorate in psychology from Washington State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in substance abuse from that university.

Prior to attending WSU, Barbosa-Leiker earned a bachelor’s degree at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts.

Much of Barbosa-Leiker’s research has centered around substance use in underserved populations, including gender differences in the measurement of opioid withdrawal, relapse while in treatment and predictors of relapse.

“We’re seeing that in really high proportions across a lot of demographic groups,” Barbosa-Leiker said. But certainly, since the pandemic, these health disparities that have existed for so long have just been exacerbated, and behavioral health, mental health, addiction, substance use, right along with that.”

Barbosa-Leiker leads an interdisciplinary research team to assess mothers, infants and health care providers in order to better care for women with opioid use disorders, and for women who use cannabis during pregnancy.

She also received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the link between psychological risk factors such as stress, substance use, depression and quality of life with brain aging in American Indian adults. The results of these studies will help improve standards and shape policy.

“I have been really privileged and honored to work with tribes across the nation,” she said.

In 2020, Barbosa-Leiker became a member of the Diversity Task Force for the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and she serves as an associate editor for Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

At CSUF, Barbosa-Leiker hopes to collaborate with the faculty in the College of Health and Human Development on more research projects.

“There’s a lot of great research already going on in the college, and so it’s fantastic and a lot of overlap with the focus on health equity and trying to decrease health disparities,” she said. “So, I think that will be great. I think I will be joining a great group of colleagues who have that expertise and that passion.”

Barbosa-Leiker met her husband Matthew Leiker, an accomplished artist, while they both had jobs at Disneyland in the 1990s.

The couple will be moving back to Orange County with their two sons, who are 10 and 13.

“We have hundreds of family members down in the area, so it’ll be so nice to be coming back home to all of our family down there,” she said. We are excited to be coming home.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers fall to Rangers after Corey Seager’s 3-run homer

• June 13, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Corey Seager set foot into Dodger Stadium on Tuesday and said the memories came back in a flood.

For everybody else, the vision of what once was returned in a torrent on Wednesday night.

Playing in his first regular-season game inside his former ballpark as a visiting player, Seager hit a three-run home run off of former teammate Walker Buehler and the Texas Rangers held on for a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers.

It was all so familiar. Small step with the right foot. Back leg bent, Hips turned. Bat through the zone. The swing that provided so much offense for the Dodgers now worked against them as Seager hit his 60th career regular-season home run at Dodger Stadium.

“Corey is one of the best hitters in the league; it is what it is,” Buehler said. “It sucks that he’s my buddy and he clipped me, but at the end of the day, people don’t give out $300 million for no reason. He’s as good as there is in this game. I tried to go in and I left it out over the plate.”

Asked Tuesday about his emotions when he left the Dodgers via free agency after the 2021 season, Seager said he really couldn’t remember. Then he admitted that reliving it was a path he would rather not travel.

Instead of words, it was all about actions Wednesday. Seager’s home run even came after he had missed his previous four games with a left hamstring strain. Neither days nor years could deter Seager in his first game back, other than an at-bat in the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.

After receiving a smattering of applause before each of his first two at-bats Wednesday, boos resonated when he came to the plate in the seventh inning and he struck out against Blake Treinen. By then, though, his statement had been made.

“I guess it kind of comes with the territory so I get it,” Seager said about cheers turning to boos. “I don’t blame them, you know. I get it.”

Seager’s home run even outshined one from Shohei Ohtani, who went deep in the first inning. The Dodgers tried to overcome Seager’s home run in the bottom of the ninth while down two runs with Will Smith and Andy Pages on base against Rangers right-hander Kirby Yates.

Jason Heyward hit a line drive into the right-center field gap and while Smith scored, Pages was out at home plate on a relay throw from Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien for the final out after center fielder Leody Taveras had bobbled Heyward’s hit.

“I knew I was going to get to third base easily and when I saw him bobble the ball, I knew that I was going to try to score no matter what because I knew I was the tying run,” Pages said through a translator.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said base coaches Dino Ebel and Clayton McCullough each talked to Pages shortly after the game ended. Ebel held up a stop sign on the play but Pages ran through it.

“It’s one thing to be defiant and to run through a stop sign when you see it and there is another thing of trying to make a play, try to be aggressive while seeing the ball in the outfield,” Roberts said. “That’s what he did. He just didn’t have his head up to pick up Dino, who is holding him up, but it still took a perfect throw and they made it. Great play.”

Buehler did not allow a run over his first four innings, even getting a visit from a trainer after Roberts noticed some leg discomfort. Buehler declined to discuss it afterward, saying, “it’s not my elbow.”

In the fifth, Buehler gave up a one-out single to Leody Tavers before Marcus Semien reached base on a fielding error by new arrival Cavan Biggio.

After he was acquired in a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier Wednesday, Biggio made his Dodgers debut at third base.

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The fielding miscue proved costly when Seager hit a full-count fastball from Buehler more than halfway up the bleachers in right field.

Buehler (1-4) gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits over five innings with a walk and two strikeouts. In seven starts since missing nearly two years following his second Tommy John surgery, Buehler has a 4.64 ERA.

“I’ve never thrown probably 80 percent cutter/two-seamer, that’s just not what I do,” Buehler said. “But I think we have a team that is kind of assumed with the talent we have that we are going to be pretty successful and I’m not just going to walk out there and keep getting killed trying to do what I used to do.”

At the plate, Biggo went 1 for 3 as he began his run as the left-handed hitting third baseman scheduled to face right-handed pitching until Max Muncy returns from an oblique injury.

In a sign of just how things changed for the Dodgers’ offense in a 24-hour period, Mookie Betts, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman all struck out in the eighth inning against 39-year-old Rangers right-hander David Robertson.

Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, left, tags out the Dodgers’ Andy Pages as he tries to score the tying run for the final out of the Rangers’ 3-2 win on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

​ Orange County Register 

At Nixon Library, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advocates for scaling back America’s military presence

• June 13, 2024

Third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advocated for scaling back America’s military presence abroad as he addressed supporters in Yorba Linda Wednesday evening, June 12, about his foreign policy approach.

Criticizing U.S. foreign policy, which he described as “stuck in a world that doesn’t exist,” Kennedy said the country seems to think that “we’re still the world’s only superpower and can bend any nation to its will.”

Kennedy, in the midst of a long-shot bid for the White House, detailed his foreign policy platform at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, part of the foundation’s Presidential Policy Perspective series. But while he advocated for scaling back the country’s foreign interventions, there was no mention of the current war in Ukraine or the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East, which has rocked local communities and resulted in large protests on college campuses.

Related: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. points to housing affordability in pitch to Southern California voters

“The foundation of a nation’s strength is the sound of its infrastructure, the integrity of its government, economic strength … and respect of choices abroad,” Kennedy said. “We have to accept the emergence of other great powers in the world.”

Kennedy has stated before that the U.S. should reduce its military presence abroad. He said the U.S. should “vastly scale back the military budget,” most of which he said has no role in defending the homeland. He said he’d propose a 50% reduction in military spending while he’s in office, if elected, which he said would engender a “stronger, smarter, better targeted national defense.”

Those dollars should be redirected to the infrastructure, education and building small businesses, Kennedy said.

The primary issue he’d focus on as president is the national debt, which he cited as “one of the reasons why we have to cut back from our military budget.”

The national budget deficit currently hovers at around $1.2 trillion.

“Every dollar we spend on weapons could create new jobs,” he said.

With a nod to former President John F. Kennedy, his uncle, Kennedy said, “My uncle spent three years in office battling the military-industrial complex … he understood the primary job of the president is to keep the country out of war.”

“I foresee a day when America will lead the world by example and not by force, a day when America stands for peace and not for war,” Kennedy said.

Before delving into his foreign policy speech, Kennedy, who’s espoused unproven conspiracies, particularly on vaccinations, harped on the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. He criticized the decision to close down businesses “with no due process and public hearings.” In an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, nonessential businesses were shuttered and stay-at-home orders were put into place in early 2020 in many states, including California.

Ahead of the evening program, Irvine resident Michael Maxsenti, among the 300 or so visitors who paid up to $75 a ticket for Kennedy’s remarks, said he was impressed by the environmental activist’s commitment to peace around the world.

Maxsenti, who leads volunteer efforts in Orange County and around California for Kennedy’s campaign, said he agreed with Kennedy’s foreign policy approach, namely his plans to reduce American military presence overseas.

“We have to project our strength and power through economic means, not military means,” he said.

Maxsenti, who said he was a “Reagan conservative Republican” until 2010 when he switched to “no party preference,” said he felt then, that neither of the two major parties — when given the opportunity to lead the country — delivered results they had promised.

Maxsenti said he believes Kennedy, as president, would “approach other countries from a place of understanding and always try to seek peace.”

Kennedy, who’s so far on the ballot in only six states — California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma and Utah — is running as an independent, as is political activist Cornel West, who also recently touched down in Orange County.

While an independent candidate has never won the presidency, well-known independent candidates could potentially spell trouble for major party candidates, especially in battleground states, by siphoning away their support.

Kennedy, who’s recognized by his last name and longstanding family heritage — aside from being the nephew of the former president, he is the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy — is polling a distant third in California, per an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, but poses a threat to President Joe Biden among Latino voters.

A new poll from Vote Latino showed Kennedy doing fairly well among Latino voters. One in five Latino voters surveyed said they’re considering a presidential candidate other than Biden or former President Donald Trump, according to the poll, with Kennedy receiving the biggest support among candidates not from major parties.

While the poll was not conducted in California (it surveyed voters in five swing states: Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada, Texas and Pennsylvania), the phenomenon seen in those states among Latino voters would hold for California as well, said UC Irvine political science professor Louis DeSipio.

DeSipio said there may be more appeal for third-party candidates in California because it’s not a battleground, thus an “easier vote” for voters. Plus, there is frustration among Latino voters, who are younger than average, with both Trump and Biden because of their “age and perception that neither of them understands the experience of young working Latinos,” said DeSipio.

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The Kennedy name may also evoke positive memories for many in the Latino community, DeSipio added, who may recollect his father’s alliance with striking farmworkers in the sixties and fight for civil rights issues important to the Latino community alongside the late labor leader Cesar Chavez. (Chavez’s family, however, endorsed Biden and has asked Kennedy to stop invoking his name on the campaign trail.)

Whether the findings of the poll will still hold true in November, DeSipio said he isn’t sure.

“Often the pattern is that voters in general are more positively inclined toward third party candidates months out from the election, but as the elections gets closer, they go back into their normal partisan silos,” he said.

In Yorba Linda, where the Nixon Library is located, Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly double, 47.9% to 26.5%, and two in 10 voters have no party preference. The city boasts one of the highest shares of registered Republican voters in Orange County, second only to nearby Villa Park, where over half of registered voters are Republican.

But the hundreds of people who packed the spacious East Room on Wednesday evening didn’t show much of an appetite for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, giving Kennedy a standing ovation before and after his speech. Several people in the audience flashed him a thumbs-up or heart hands at the end of the evening.

Several cars in the parking lot had bumper stickers and signs that read “Kennedy 2024.”

Kennedy’s speech was part of the Nixon Library’s 2024 Presidential Policy Perspectives series, for which every major party declared presidential candidate was invited to visit the Nixon Library and “deliver remarks in any format, on any topic,” according to the Library.

Other presidential candidates who have spoken at the presidential library include former 2024 GOP contenders Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence and Vivek Ramaswamy.

​ Orange County Register 

José Soriano dominates for 8 innings in Angels’ victory over Diamondbacks

• June 13, 2024

PHOENIX — José Soriano continues to be the most encouraging story in an otherwise disappointing Angels season.

Soriano dominated the Arizona Diamondbacks for eight innings in the Angels’ 8-3 victory on Wednesday night.

Soriano had faced the minimum 21 hitters through seven innings, thanks to four double plays. He lost his bid for a shutout when he allowed a solo homer to lead off the eighth.

Soriano then struck out three of the next four batters to get out of the inning.

Manager Ron Washington then gave him a chance to get the Angels’ first complete game of the season. Geraldo Perdomo hit a sharp comebacker that Soriano could only deflect back toward the plate, allowing Perdomo to reach with an infield single.

Washington then pulled Soriano, who was charged with a second run after left-hander Matt Moore gave up a two-run homer.

The Angels converted the Soriano, 25-year-old right-hander, from a reliever into a starter this year, and he’s delivered a 3.48 ERA in 72⅓ innings.

Many young starters, even those who are successful, begin their careers by having trouble getting deep into games. Soriano, though, has proven to be pitch efficient.

He’s worked at least six innings in seven of his 12 starts, even though he has still not thrown 100 pitches.

One of the reasons he’s managed to do that is that his 101 mph fastball is a two-seamer, which means it’s better for getting ground balls than strikeouts.

Soriano has struck out just 20.3% of the hitters he’s faced, which is less than the major league average. His ratio of 1.6 ground outs per fly out, however, is well above the major league average.

That helped him to induce four double plays on Wednesday, which sped him through the Arizona lineup without much trouble. The Diamondbacks had four hits and two walks, but they did not get a runner into scoring position until a Christian Walker homer in the eighth.

Soriano threw 10 pitches or fewer in three innings. He needed 97 pitches to get 24 outs on Wednesday night.

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While Soriano was cruising through the Diamondbacks’ lineup, the Angels were pounding Arizona pitching to provide a healthy cushion.

Jo Adell blasted a 434-foot, three-run homer in the fourth to put the Angels ahead 6-0.

Zach Neto hit his eighth homer of the season and barely missed his ninth. In the sixth inning, he hit a drive to center field that was initially ruled a two-run homer. Upon review, umpires determined the ball hit just below the line, so Neto settled for an RBI double.

Neto has hit .289 with eight homers and an .855 OPS over 161 plate appearances since April 22.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Orangewood Academy to take ‘leave of absence’ from CIF-SS team athletics next school year

• June 13, 2024

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Orangewood Academy will not participate in CIF-SS team athletics in the 2024-25 school year because of enrollment concerns, principal Winston Morgan said Wednesday.

“We are taking a leave of absence from CIF due to enrollment count,” he said. “We believe we can rebuild. … We’re not dead.”

Morgan called the break from sports “unfortunate” for the small Seventh-day Adventist school in Garden Grove. During this past school year, the Spartans fielded CIF-SS teams in boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys soccer and softball.

Morgan said Orangewood Academy’s high school enrollment has dropped to 27 students from 76. The school, he said, recently graduated 27 seniors and has seen other departures.

He attributed several of the departures to the resignation of veteran basketball coach and athletic director Leslie Aragon.

“(The returning students) are not happy that their coach left and don’t see a program surviving without their coach and they’re going elsewhere,” Morgan said. “Leslie did a great job with the program.”

In February, Morgan announced Aragon’s resignation as an “mutually agreed” parting.

Aragon, who worked about 19 years at his alma mater, received an outpouring of support following the news, including a petition that requested he be retained by the school.

After the announcement in February about his departure at the end of the basketball season, Aragon coached the girls basketball team through the playoffs and left the school on March 22.

Morgan declined to elaborate Wednesday on the reasons for Aragon’s departure, citing rules about discussing a personnel issue.

The resignation has been heavily discussed in Orange County girls basketball circles.

Aragon, who led the girls basketball team to a berth in the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs this past season, recently discussed his Orangewood Academy tenure and departure on the Adventist Hoops podcast.

He said on the show that he was questioned about the programs finances and then placed on leave.

“We always had an understanding,” he said of the finances. “I told them, you know, the mistakes that I made were not of the malicious intent … but more like, hey, I just didn’t have enough help or I was just … trying to not lose the money, right? We had a lot of money to raise.”

“I was placed on administrative leave that lasted less than 24 hours,” he added. “The only way to come out of administrative leave was to resign. And that was going to be the only way I could coach the girls team (through the playoffs).”

Aragon, 48, also discussed “philosophical differences” he felt with the school administration regarding the role of athletics. He stated on the podcast that he viewed athletics as a way to increase enrollment and was “rubbing people the wrong way.”

“I wanted us to be better,” he said on the show. “And I thought any kid that walks through that door deserves our best.”

Aragon said his roles at the school included coaching girls basketball, serving as athletic director and fundraising.

He guided the girls program to two CIF-SS titles and earned more than 500 career victories coaching boys and girls basketball. The girls team reached the Open Division playoffs three times under Aragon.

The Spartans’ athletic success extended beyond basketball this school year.

At the CIF-SS Division 4 swimming finals in May, junior Haruhi Yamagata won two events, including the 100-yard breaststroke in a division record and county-leading time of 53.97 seconds.

The boys volleyball team advanced to the CIF-SS Division 7 semifinals in the spring. The softball team reached the second round of the Division 7 playoffs.

In the fall, the Spartans’ girls volleyball team made it to the Division 8 quarterfinals and reached the Division V final in the CIF Southern California Regional.

Morgan said he views athletics as a positive for students but cautioned that sportsmanship is vital. He added that the school hopes to offer intramural sports for its junior high school students.

“I think athletics are great,” he said. “There are positive outcomes.”

The school’s athletics future has been in question for weeks following an email sent by the Western Athletic Conference on May 21 to its member schools. The conference, which includes Orangewood Academy, advised members to “remove Orangewood from your volleyball and basketball schedules.”

On Wednesday night, Aragon called Orangewood Academy’s plan for athletics next school year “deflating.”

He also recalled the school’s challenging road for success over several decades.

“It’s hurts,” he said. “(But I’m) extremely proud and just humbled at how much our community got behind all we accomplished and so proud of how many kids we were able to impact.”

Aragon said he has received job offers and is weighing his options.

Please send girls basketball news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

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​ Orange County Register 

NBA Finals: Celtics hold off Mavericks in Game 3, on brink of 18th title

• June 13, 2024

By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Sports Writer

DALLAS — Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, Jaylen Brown had 30 and the Boston Celtics held off a furious Dallas rally to reach the brink of a record 18th championship with a 106-99 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night for a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

Brown finished with eight rebounds and eight assists as the Celtics extended their franchise record with a 10th consecutive playoff victory and moved to 7-0 on the road this postseason. They can win the series and break a tie with the Lakers for most NBA championships with a victory Friday night in Dallas.

Boston also improved to 10-1 in these playoffs without Kristaps Porzingis after the 7-foot-2 Latvian was ruled out about two hours before the game because of a rare tendon injury in his lower left leg sustained in Game 2.

The status of Porzingis for the rest of the series appears in doubt, but it might not matter. None of the previous 156 teams to face a 3-0 deficit has rallied to win an NBA playoff series.

The Mavs almost pulled off a crazy comeback to avoid the big hole – 13 years after the only other rally to match it in the NBA Finals sparked Dallas’ run to its only title against Miami.

Boston led 91-70 at the end of a 20-5 run early in the fourth quarter before Dallas answered with a 22-2 spurt to get within a point with 3½ minutes remaining.

Problem was, Luka Doncic picked up his sixth foul with 4:12 remaining when a challenge was unsuccessful before Kyrie Irving, who scored 35 points, hit a jumper to get Dallas within one.

Tatum and Brown saved the Celtics from there, with some help from Derrick White, who scored 16. Those three combined for the remaining 13 Boston points to get the Celtics within a victory of their first title since 2008, and just the second since 1986.

In a game that seemed over early in the fourth, the score was stuck on 93-90 for more than three minutes. That included when Doncic was called for a blocking foul on a driving Brown.

The Mavs had nothing to lose with the challenge, since it meant trying to save their superstar from disqualification.

Without Doncic, Dallas managed to get within two before Brown hit a pullup jumper with a minute to go. P.J. Washington Jr., Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr. each missed a 3-point attempt in the final minute as Irving’s personal losing streak against his former team reached 13 games.

An energized Dallas crowd was ready for its first finals game in 13 years, with Super Bowl-winning quarterback and Mavs fan Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs frequently getting out of his seat near midcourt.

The Mavs used the needed boost coming off two losses in Boston, taking their biggest lead of the series while running out to a 22-9 lead. Doncic and Irving drove for buckets while also hitting a 3-pointer apiece.

The Celtics answered with a 21-9 finish to the first quarter. Sam Hauser hit two of his first-half 3-pointers – on three attempts – to help wrap up a run that started with four points from Brown and a 3-pointer from Tatum.

Defense dominated the start of the second quarter, Boston holding a 5-2 edge nearly six minutes in before Irving and Tatum traded 3-pointers to start a scoring burst.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

13-year sentence ordered for man in Santa Ana gang killing of innocent bystander

• June 13, 2024

SANTA ANA — A 27-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison for his part in the fatal gang-related shooting of a 36-year-old innocent bystander who was going out to buy food for dinner for his family in Santa Ana.

Felix Martinez Vargas of Santa Ana pleaded guilty in September 2022 to voluntary manslaughter in the Dec. 1, 2017, killing of 36-year-old Mariano Labra Ramos of Santa Ana. Vargas has been in custody since Dec. 2, 2017.

As part of his plea deal, a charge of murder was dismissed along with sentencing enhancement for being a gang member’s vicarious discharge of a gun causing great bodily injury.

Co-defendant Alexis Ascencion, 25, of Santa Ana, was sentenced in April to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killing. Ascencion was convicted Feb. 15 of first-degree murder and participating in gang activity, with special circumstances of gang activity and sentencing enhancements for discharge of a gun causing death.

Vargas testified in Ascencion’s trials in July 2022 and this year. A mistrial was declared in the first trial when jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of guilt.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King tacked on an additional 25 years to life in prison to the life without parole punishment for Ascencion.

“It was a payback,” King said of the attack.

The judge said Ascencion drove into rival gang territory and randomly selected a victim.

“He picked someone out with no prior association (to the gang),” King said. “He shot him intentionally and as a result that person died.”

“There was just no justification” for the killing, King said, adding that it “was an aggravated case.”

The judge said the shooting was done “to show strength of his gang” and was a “senseless act of violence.”

Ramos “was going out to get salt to make dinner for his wife, who was blind,” King said.

The couple had a “healthy marriage” and he was the main provider, the judge said.

The defendants — which included two boys, ages 15 and 16 — drove into rival gang territory when they saw two men in front of an apartment complex between 1913 and 1909 W. Myrtle St., according to a trial brief from prosecutors in Ascencion’s case. Ascencion asked Vargas, the driver, to stop before Ascencion jumped out and opened fire on the victim, wounding him in the leg with two shots, prosecutors said.

A main artery was struck and Ramos, who had no gang ties, bled to death, prosecutors said.

Ascencion ran back to the car and they fled the area, prosecutors said.

Police found the vehicle involved in the shooting just before 9 p.m. that night and stopped the driver.

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​ Orange County Register