Trump surgeon general pick praised unproven psychedelic therapy, said mushrooms helped her find love

• May 14, 2025

By MICHELLE R. SMITH

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new pick for surgeon general wrote in a recent book that people should consider using unproven psychedelic drugs as therapy and in a newsletter suggested her use of mushrooms helped her find a romantic partner.

Dr. Casey Means’ recommendation to consider guided psilocybin-assisted therapy is notable because psilocybin is illegal under federal law. It’s listed as a Schedule 1 drug, defined as a substance “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Oregon and Colorado have legalized psychedelic therapy, though several cities in Oregon have since banned it.

The surgeon general’s job is to provide Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce their risk of illness and injury. Past surgeons general have used their position to educate Americans about health problems like AIDS and suicide prevention. The surgeon general’s warning in 1964 about the dangers of smoking helped change the course of America’s health.

Some, like Dr. C. Everett Koop, surgeon general under President Ronald Reagan, became widely known with substantial impact on policy, and others slipped easily from memory.

Means’ nomination follows a pattern from Trump to select people known for their public personas more than their policy positions. In the case of Means, the Republican president said he chose her solely on the recommendation of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Bobby thought she was fantastic,” Trump said, adding that he did not know her.

Means, who received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University, began a medical residency in Oregon but did not complete it. Her medical license is listed as inactive. Contacted by phone, Means declined to comment on the record.

She made the recommendation about psychedelics in her 2024 book, “Good Energy,” which she wrote with her brother, Calley Means, an entrepreneur who now works in the Trump administration as a health adviser and who has said he invested in biopharmaceutical companies that specialize in psychedelics.

Much of the book focuses on metabolic health, what Casey Means calls “good energy.” She suggests a number of strategies to help people “manage and heal the stressors, traumas, and thought patterns that limit us and contribute to our poor metabolic health and thriving.”

One such strategy is to “consider psilocybin-assisted therapy,” referring to the compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. She details her thinking on the subject in a 750-word passage.

“If you feel called, I also encourage you to explore intentional, guided psilocybin therapy,” she wrote. “Strong scientific evidence suggests that this psychedelic therapy can be one of the most meaningful experiences of life for some people, as they have been for me.”

Though there have been some studies suggesting benefits from psychedelics, it has not been shown that benefits outweigh the risks. Psilocybin can cause hours of hallucinations that can be pleasant or terrifying. When paired with talk therapy, it has been studied as a treatment for psychiatric conditions and alcoholism, but very little research has been done in healthy people. Side effects can include increased heart rate, nausea and headaches. Taking it unsupervised can be dangerous. Hallucinations could cause a user to walk into traffic or take other risks.

Means wrote that psilocybin and other psychedelics have been stigmatized. She touted the benefits of MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, for helping people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The Food and Drug Administration last year declined to approve the use of MDMA as a therapy for PTSD after a panel of advisers found the research was flawed and there were significant risks in using it.

Means refers to psychedelics in her book as “plant medicine.” She describes how she took mushrooms for the first time around Jan. 1, 2021, after she was inspired by “an internal voice that whispered: it’s time to prepare.”

“I felt myself as part of an infinite and unbroken series of cosmic nesting dolls of millions of mothers and babies before me from the beginning of life,” she wrote, adding that in her experience “psilocybin can be a doorway to a different reality that is free from the limiting beliefs of my ego, feelings, and personal history.”

In a newsletter she published in October, Means said she had also used psychedelics to help her make “space to find love at 35.” She wrote that she “did plant medicine experiences with trusted guides” to become ready for partnership, punctuating the line with a mushroom emoji. She noted she was not necessarily making recommendations that others do the same.

In a post this month about her White House health policy wish list, Means said she wanted more nutritious food served in schools, suggested putting warning labels on ultra-processed foods, called for investigations into vaccine safety and said she wanted to remove conflicts of interest. She did not specifically mention psychedelics but said that researchers have little incentive to study “generic, natural, and non-patentable drugs and therapies” and that a portion of research budgets should be devoted to alternative approaches to health.

Calley Means has also advocated for the use of psychedelic drugs, writing in a 2021 blog post that he first tried psilocybin during a challenging time in his life and “it was the single most meaningful experience of my life — personally, professionally, and spiritually.” He said in 2022 that he had “sold all of my 401k” and bought stocks in two companies that are developing and researching psychedelics. He did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Casey Means’ confirmation hearing has not been scheduled. Trump chose Means after questions were raised about the resume of his first pick for surgeon general, former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, and he withdrew her nomination.

Associated Press Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson in Washington state and AP writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers designate Austin Barnes for assignment, call up Dalton Rushing

• May 14, 2025

The Dodgers are parting ways with longtime catcher Austin Barnes to make room for top prospect Dalton Rushing.

Barnes, 35, was designated for assignment Wednesday. In his 11th season with the Dodgers, the two-time World Series champion was hitting .214 with three doubles and two RBI. He held a .992 fielding percentage over 3,813 innings, many seasons serving as the backup to Will Smith.

The Dodgers acquired Barnes, along with pitchers Andrew Heaney and Chris Hatcher and utility player Kiké Hernández, in a 2014 trade the Miami Marlins in exchange for infielders Dee Strange-Gordon and Miguel Rojas and pitcher Dan Haren.

Rushing, 24, has been regarded as one of the top up-and-comers in the Dodgers’ minor leagues after he was selected in the second round of the 2022 draft out of Louisville.

The catcher, who also started playing outfield last season, was hitting .308 with five homers and 17 RBI this season in Triple-A Oklahoma City. The No. 1 prospect in the Dodgers’ organization has been in the organization four seasons, clubbing 54 homers and driving in 185 runs with a .931 OPS.

Last season, Rushing was named the 2024 Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year by the Dodgers after he hit 26 homers and drove in 85 runs between Double-A and Triple-A.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Wisconsin judge argues prosecutors can’t charge her with helping a man evade immigration agents

• May 14, 2025

By TODD RICHMOND

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge charged with helping a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents who were trying to detain him at her courthouse filed a motion to dismiss the case Wednesday, arguing that there’s no legal basis for it.

Attorneys for Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan argue in their motion that her conduct on the day in question amounted to directing people’s movement in and around her courtroom, and that she enjoys legal immunity for official acts she performs as a judge. They cite last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case that found that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts that fall within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority” and are presumptively entitled to immunity for all official acts.

“The problems with the prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” the motion says. “Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset.”

The judge overseeing her case is Lynn Adelman, a former Democratic state senator. Former President Bill Clinton appointed him to the bench in 1997.

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Milwaukee didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Federal prosecutors charged Dugan in April with obstruction and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. A grand jury indicted her on the same charges on Tuesday. She faces up to six years in prison if convicted of both counts.

Her attorneys insist Dugan is innocent. She’s expected to enter a not guilty plea at her arraignment Thursday.

Dugan’s arrest has escalated a clash between the Trump administration and Democrats over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats contend that Dugan’s arrest went too far and that the administration is trying to make an example out of her to discourage judicial opposition to the crackdown.

Dugan’s case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a courthouse back door to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent. That case was eventually dismissed.

According to prosecutors, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz illegally reentered the U.S. after being deported in 2013. He was charged in March with misdemeanor domestic violence in Milwaukee County and was in Dugan’s courtroom for a hearing in that case on April 18.

Dugan’s clerk alerted her that immigration agents were in the courthouse looking to arrest Flores-Ruiz, prosecutors allege in court documents. According to an affidavit, Dugan became visibly angry at the agents’ arrival and called the situation “absurd.” After discussing the warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest with the agents, Dugan demanded that they speak with the chief judge and led them away from the courtroom.

She then returned to the courtroom, was heard saying something to the effect of “wait, come with me,” and then showed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a back door, the affidavit says. The immigration agents eventually detained Flores-Ruiz outside the building following a foot chase.

Dugan’s dismissal motion also accuses the federal government of violating Wisconsin’s sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge.

“The government’s prosecution here reaches directly into a state courthouse, disrupting active proceedings, and interferes with the official duties of an elected judge,” the motion states.

The state Supreme Court suspended Dugan from the bench last month, saying the move was necessary to preserve public confidence in the judiciary. A reserve judge is filling in for her.

​ Orange County Register 

Maryland loses triple-A bond rating from Moody’s rating agency

• May 14, 2025

By BRIAN WITTE

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland lost its triple-A bond rating from Moody’s on Wednesday, a rating the state has cited for more than 50 years as a sign of strong fiscal stewardship.

Moody’s downgraded the state’s credit rating to Aa1. Maryland had received a triple-A bond rating from Moody’s since 1973. The state has benefitted from the higher rating by paying the lowest rates when it sells bonds to pay for infrastructure, likes roads and schools.

“The downgrade was driven by economic and financial underperformance compared to Aaa-rated states, which is expected to continue given the state’s heightened vulnerability to shifting federal policies and employment, and its elevated fixed costs,” Moody’s said.

Gov. Wes Moore and other leading Maryland Democrats blamed President Donald Trump’s mass layoffs of federal workers, which is having a big impact on the region. The District of Columbia also recently received a credit-rating downgrade.

“To put it bluntly, this is a Trump downgrade,” Moore said in statement made jointly by the presiding officers of the state’s legislature, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis, who are all Democrats. “Over the last one hundred days, the federal administration’s decisions have wreaked havoc on the entire region, including Maryland.”

Maryland Republicans described the downgrade as “a harsh indictment of the state’s current direction under Governor Wes Moore.”

“Donald Trump didn’t downgrade Maryland’s bond rating — Annapolis Democrats did. And now they’re scrambling for someone else to blame,” Republican Sen. Steve Hershey, the Senate minority leader, said in a statement. “This is the result of reckless spending, bloated budgets, and an economy that’s been hollowed out by overregulation and overreliance on the federal government.”

Moody’s had noted earlier this year that federal cuts pose a greater threat to Maryland than any other state.

Maryland lawmakers recently concluded a challenging legislative session to balance the state’s budget. They closed a $3.3 billion budget deficit for the next fiscal year with a combination of tax increases, budget cuts and fund transfers.

Maryland lawmakers also directed the governor’s budget office to keep track of the impact of federal cuts, alert them if it reaches $1 billion and make recommendations on how to deal with the impact.

The Democrats’ statement noted that Moody’s acknowledged that the state had closed its budget gap, even as it remains exposed to the economic consequences of federal funding cuts and layoffs.

“Maryland still holds one of the highest possible credit ratings in the nation,” the joint statement said, “and as we have for decades, we will always pay our debts.”

​ Orange County Register 

DoorDash delivery driver pleads guilty to stealing $2.5 million in deliveries scam

• May 14, 2025

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former food delivery driver pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to steal more than $2.5 million from DoorDash by getting the company to pay for deliveries that never occurred, federal prosecutors said.

Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Jose to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, California, admitted to working with three others in 2020 and 2021 to defraud the San Francisco-based delivery company, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Devagiri used customer accounts to place high-value orders and then used an employee’s credential to gain access to DoorDash software and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts that he and others controlled. He then caused the fraudulent driver accounts to report that the orders had been delivered when they had not, and manipulated DoorDash’s computer systems to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for the nonexistent deliveries, officials said.

Devagiri would then use DoorDash software to change the orders from “delivered” status to “in process” status and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, beginning the process again, prosecutors said.

Devagiri is the third defendant to be convicted of his role in this conspiracy. Two co-defendants previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, authorities said.

Devagiri faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 16, 2025.

​ Orange County Register 

More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas go on strike to protest new dress code

• May 14, 2025

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas at 75 U.S. stores have gone on strike since Sunday to protest a new company dress code, a union representing the coffee giant’s workers said Wednesday.

Starbucks put new limits starting Monday on what its baristas can wear under their green aprons. The dress code requires employees at company-operated and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada to wear a solid black shirt and khaki, black or blue denim bottoms.

Under the previous dress code, baristas could wear a broader range of dark colors and patterned shirts. Starbucks said the new rules would make its green aprons stand out and create a sense of familiarity for customers as it tries to establish a warmer, more welcoming feeling in its stores.

But Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents workers at 570 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores, said the dress code should be subject to collective bargaining.

“Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of listening to baristas who make the Starbucks experience what it is, they are focused on all the wrong things, like implementing a restrictive new dress code,” said Paige Summers, a Starbucks shift supervisor from Hanover, Maryland. “Customers don’t care what color our clothes are when they’re waiting 30 minutes for a latte.”

Summers and others also criticized the company for selling styles of Starbucks-branded clothing that employees no longer are allowed to wear to work on an internal website. Starbucks said it would give two free black T-shirts to each employee when it announced the new dress code.

Starbucks said Wednesday that the strike was having a limited impact on its 10,000 company-operated U.S. stores.

“Thousands of Starbucks partners came to work this week ready to serve their customers and communities,” the company said in a statement. “It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract.”

Starbucks Workers United has been unionizing U.S. stores since 2021. Starbucks and the union have yet to reach a contract agreement, despite agreeing to return to the bargaining table in February 2024.

The union said this week that it filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging Starbucks’ failure to bargain over the new dress code.

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gets kids singing and dancing

• May 14, 2025

The new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show at Disney California Adventure seeks to give kids a chance to dance, sing and burn off a little nervous energy while their parents cool their heels in air conditioned bliss on hot summer days.

The new “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live” stage show will debut on Friday, May 16 in the Disney Theater in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure.

Disneyland unveiled the new kids show on Tuesday, May 13 during a media preview of the 70th anniversary celebration.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration — Here’s everything you need to know

Mickey and Minnie have been once again cast as the stars of this brand new Disney Junior stage show with a host of new supporting characters — including Goofy, Daisy and Pluto.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland’s new ‘World of Color’ tugs at your emotional heartstrings

The backstory for the show finds Mickey inviting his friends over to his house for a party. When the guests fail to show, Mickey and Minnie head out in search of their buddies.

Sam the DJ serves as host, plumber and electrician during the journey to find Mickey’s pals and wrangle them together for the house party.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland turns It’s a Small World into a fun treasure hunt with new Coco characters

The house-to-house hunt finds Goofy in a busted shower, Daisy in a blacked out apartment and Pluto’s dog house buried under an avalanche of snow. Fortunately, DJ Sam is able to fix the problems thanks to his handy man day jobs and his hot tunes are able to melt the snow.

Even Sam didn’t seem to understand why it was snowing in Southern California — other than as an excuse to blast faux snow into the theater.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland raises hopes for future Toy Story Midway Mania makeovers

Don’t bother searching for a coherent storyline in “Clubhouse Live.” It’s all about getting to the party, dancing along the way and the obligatory confetti finale when the gang is finally reunited.

The “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live” show is geared toward preschool and young grade school children with songs and scenarios based on the Disney Junior television show.

ALSO SEE: 13 Disneyland anniversary foods that offer nods to park’s past

For the kids, “Clubhouse Live” is a great way to see some of their favorite Disney characters without having to wait in line for meet-and-greet photo ops.

For the parents, the darkened theater is a great way to get off their feet, get out of the sun and enjoy a break during a busy day at the parks.

​ Orange County Register 

Woman orchestrated friend’s execution in car in Fountain Valley, prosecutor tells jurors

• May 14, 2025

On a summer evening in 2021, residents near Slater Avenue in Fountain Valley head several loud bangs, and some discovered Phia Marie Albanese, 26, slumped over in a VW Jetta with the engine running on a front lawn in a cul-de-sac.

A black Mercedes-Benz was seen speeding off by some neighbors. One person leaned into the car to turn off the vehicle before officers arrived.

Albanese had three gunshot wounds in her head.

On Wednesday, May 14, a prosecutor told Orange County Superior Court jurors in Santa Ana that Mary Chavez, then 25, orchestrated the execution of her friend after deciding that Albanese told Chavez’s violent ex-boyfriend where she was staying.

Paperwork in the car pointed investigators to a Tustin motel and an alleged conspiracy to kill the Long Beach resident, which prosecutors say was carried out by accused gunman Oliver Leon, then 27.

During Wednesday’s opening statements for Chavez’s trial, both the prosecution and defense agreed that Leon — a purported gang member from Los Angeles who in a recorded call appeared to refer to himself as “a killer with a smile” — was the actual shooter. He will be tried separately later.

While Chavez is not accused of actually pulling the trigger that evening — just after 6 on July 19, 2021, near Slater and Tradewinds Street — she still faces murder and conspiracy charges.

“Mary Diedra Chavez ruthlessly and viciously conspired and planned and helped carry out the execution of Phia Albanese,” Deputy District Attorney Nick Thomo told jurors. “She was the one who put the whole thing together.”

Chavez’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Jessica Ann Sweeny, told jurors that Chavez never intended for Albanese to be killed. Instead, the defense attorney said, Leon “went rogue. … She was along for the ride and things got out of control with the ‘killer with a smile.’ What happened to Phia was out of Mary’s control.”

At the time, Chavez was moving between Airbnb locations to avoid an ex-boyfriend who had repeatedly beaten her, including while she was pregnant, Sweeny said.

Chavez’s new boyfriend had shot and injured her ex-boyfriend, the prosecution said. Her new boyfriend was taken into custody in connection to a carjacking, leaving Chavez on the streets to face potential retaliation from her ex-boyfriend, both attorneys said.

Albanese — who also had a boyfriend behind bars — had reached out to Chavez to hang out. But Chavez suspected that Albanese gave Chavez’s ex-boyfriend her location, the prosecution said, leading the ex-boyfriend to trash her car and show up looking for her.

According to the prosecutor, Chavez — feeling betrayed — reached out to Leon, who was “the guy you bring around when you want someone killed.”

Chavez lured Albanese out of a Tustin motel room she was staying in and persuaded Albanese to drive off with Chavez and Leon in Albanese’s vehicle, the prosecutor alleged. When they reached the Fountain Valley neighborhood, Leon shot Albanese in the back of the head while sitting in the seat behind her, both the prosecution and defense said.

Sweeny, the defense attorney, countered that Chavez had reached out to Leon for protection against her ex-boyfriend, not to kill Albanese.

The day of the killing, Sweeny said, Chavez was trying to find out from Albanese where her ex-boyfriend was staying in order to avoid him. An erratic and angry Leon instead killed Albanese after shooting meth in the car, the defense attorney added.

Prosecutors have indicated in court filings that they intend to pursue the death penalty against Leon for Albanese’s killing and not Chavez. Leon’s trial could end up being the first death penalty case to reach a jury under the current Orange County District Attorney, Todd Spitzer.

​ Orange County Register