Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Friday, May 31, 2024

• May 30, 2024

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Terry Turrell, Eddie Wilson and Kevin Modesti. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Friday, May 31, 2024.

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Newsom unveils plan that would hasten insurance-rate reviews — and increases

• May 30, 2024

By Levi Sumagaysay | CalMatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed legislation to speed up insurance premium rate reviews as he and the Insurance Department try to fix the state’s battered insurance market.

Last fall, Newsom issued an executive order tasking Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara with fixing home and fire insurance availability and affordability as insurers — citing rising wildfire risk and pandemic-induced inflation, and complaining about having to wait too long to get their requests for rate increases approved by the state — were canceling homeowner policies and halting the writing of new ones in California.

Homeowners continue to have trouble obtaining or hanging onto affordable insurance. From September through March, more than 45,000 of them have had to turn to the FAIR Plan, which is supposed to be an insurer of last resort for fire insurance. The plan provides limited coverage at high prices, so some homeowners have chosen to forgo fire insurance because they can’t afford their premiums, which in some cases have tripled or more.

Lara has been rolling out a plan to address the insurance market problems, which is expected to take effect by the end of the year. But Newsom said at a press conference earlier this month that “We’ve got to move it. We’ve just got to do more.”

Hence the bill he released Tuesday night, which is tied to the state budget and may not get as much scrutiny as other bills this late in the legislative session. It needs only a simple majority vote in the state Legislature and would take effect immediately after the governor signs it.

The bill builds on the part of Lara’s plan that makes changes to the process of approving insurance rate increases. It would add language to the insurance code that tightens the timeline of the review process, giving the Insurance Department up to 120 days — an initial 60 days, with options for two 30-day extensions — to respond to insurer rate-review requests with a newly required estimated rate. At that point, unless there is an objection by a consumer or consumer representative, the insurance companies can accept the estimated rate and apply it.

Currently, the law says the Insurance Department must act on rate filings within 60 days without a hearing or 180 days with a hearing. But Michael Soller, spokesperson for the department, said that as of February, the average time for homeowner filings was 196 days.

“By enacting this important part of our strategy in statute, the Legislature can help us meet the urgency of the moment,” Lara said in a statement after the governor released the text of the bill.

“This proposal requires the Department of Insurance to modernize and streamline its rate application process to get back to the expedited timelines outlined in Prop. 103,” said Alex Stack, a spokesperson for the governor.

Carmen Balber, executive director of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, said the tightened timeline for the state to respond with a rate estimate “seriously hamstrings oversight by the (insurance) department overall” as well as the role of intervenors such as her group. She said because the bill requires the Insurance Department to provide an estimated rate within 120 days, insurance companies could essentially be guaranteed rate increases three times a year — of less than 7% each time without triggering the risk of a hearing under Proposition 103, California’s insurance law that requires the state to approve rates — regardless of whether they can justify them.

The strict timeline “severely limits the information the department and intervenors can obtain” from insurers, Balber said, adding that she hopes lawmakers will “fix it.”

The chair of the Senate’s insurance committee, Sen. Susan Rubio, on Wednesday said she supports the bill. “I could not be more pleased with (the governor’s) proposal to help reduce unnecessary red tape,” the Los Angeles Democrat wrote in an emailed statement.

State lawmakers have been under pressure from their constituents to do something about the insurance market, with some of them proposing legislation to try to ensure individual and community efforts to help prevent wildfires count toward insurance affordability. The office of Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, chair of the Assembly’s insurance committee and another Los Angeles Democrat, did not respond to a request for comment on the governor’s proposal in time for publication.

The insurance industry is optimistic that the bill will speed things up.

Rex Frazier, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, said insurance companies that submit rate increase requests typically don’t hear back from the Insurance Department for four or five months. “At least now, they have to show their work by 60 days,” Frazier said. “The proposal provides more clarity and accountability to all parties involved in the process.”

Denni Ritter, vice president for state government relations for another industry group, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said the group was still evaluating the text of the bill. “Streamlining the rate review process will help increase consumer access to coverage by ensuring rates adequately reflect risk and consumer claims,” she said.

Lara’s overall plan, which he has dubbed the Sustainable Insurance Strategy, also includes allowing insurance companies to use catastrophe modeling; letting insurers incorporate reinsurance costs in their rates; and improving the FAIR Plan, including by requiring increased insurance coverage.

​ Orange County Register 

Azusa man, 81, found dead days after arrest in decade-long slingshot vandalism case

• May 30, 2024

An 81-year-ol Azusa man died a day after he was charged with using a slingshot to damage seven neighbors’ windows and a car since 2021.

Azusa police received a call around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday of a possible dead person at a home in the 500 block of North Soldano Avenue and found Prince Raymond King inside, Sgt. Nick Covarrubias said.

“We didn’t find any evidence of foul play,” he said.

Covarrubias didn’t know who owns the home.

King died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the medical examiner’s office, which ruled the death as natural.

King had been released on his own recognizance by the court after his Tuesday arraignment at West Covina Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty to five counts of felony vandalism and two counts of misdemeanor vandalism.

While police suspected King of vandalizing windows in his neighborhood for about a decade, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged him with vandalism on from October 2021 to May 2024.

The seven victims live on 10th Street, Enid Avenue and West Crescent Drive. King lived on West Crescent Drive near Enid.

Police deduced where the ball bearings were coming from and arrested King last Thursday, May 23.

Before serving the search warrant, officers saw King go out of the house and use a slingshot, Cpl. Benjamin Cypher has said. Officers also found a slingshot and 10 to 40 ball bearings at the home.

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IRS makes free tax return program permanent

• May 30, 2024

By Fatima Hussein | The Associated Press

The IRS said Thursday it will make permanent the free electronic tax return filing system that it experimented with this year and is asking all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help taxpayers file their returns through the program in 2025.

The IRS tried the Direct File project for the 2024 tax season on a limited basis in 12 states for people with very simple W-2s, the employee’s wage and tax statement.

The agency also is inviting all states with a state income tax to sign up and help people file their state returns for free. During the 2024 pilot, tax agencies in California, Arizona, Massachusetts and New York helped people directly file their state taxes.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the IRS will report later this year on how many states plan to participate in the program in 2025.

The IRS was tasked with looking into how to create a “direct file” system as part of the money it received from the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It gave the IRS nine months and $15 million to report on how such a program would work.

“The IRS has been underfunded for decades, so taxpayers haven’t gotten the support they deserve,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters in a call Thursday. “Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re changing this.” The IRS is part of the Treasury Department.

Since the Direct File trial began in March, more than 140,000 taxpayers used it to file their tax returns, claiming more than $90 million in refunds, agency officials said.

Werfel said expanding the program will provide another filing option to taxpayers and “fits squarely into the IRS’ effort to make taxes as easy as possible for Americans, including saving time and money.”

“We know there is more analysis to do, but we feel that we have enough information at this point to make the decision,” he said. “And an early decision on 2025 is critical for planning -– both for the IRS and for additional states to join the program.”

The IRS has face intense blowback to Direct File from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software and have spent millions lobbying Congress. The average American typically spends about $140 preparing their returns each year.

For the Direct File program to keep growing, it will need continued funding under the Inflation Reduction Act, which initially included $80 billion for the IRS. Some of that has since been diverted by lawmakers to other programs.

House Republicans built a $1.4 billion reduction to the IRS into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package passed by Congress last summer. A separate agreement will take an additional $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years to divert to other nondefense programs.

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Remember Bill Walton, basketball great and homeless policy expert

• May 30, 2024

When Bill Walton passed away on Monday, fans recalled the UCLA star, two-time NBA champion, and one of the great centers of all time. Walton became a broadcaster and last year he called a foul on misguided government policies in San Diego, the same policies now causing misery across California.

“I love San Diego and it breaks my heart what’s happening to it now,” said Walton a 27-minutes speech last October.  The dream had become a “nightmare” and the city faced an “existential challenge.”

Balboa Park, near Walton’s residence, is “not safe,” and “downtown for same reason.” Bike trails were jammed with trash and the Embarcadero “a travesty.” For Walton, this was due to homeless people who failed to grasp “the first thing you learn in life – clean up after yourself.” As Walton saw it, the homeless were also into criminality.

“They steal everything,” Walton said, including water, electricity, and “our mail.” This forced Walton to “call the police every single day.” In his speech, he called out career politicians who “never had another job,” especially San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. He had done “a lot of preaching” but had “no plan whatsoever.”

Gloria had “instructed our police force to not enforce the rules on homeless people. That is unacceptable.” On the other hand, it wasn’t quite true that Gloria had no plan. He was an advocate of the Housing First policy of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“‘Housing First’ is not working, has never worked, and will not work,” contended Walton. If Californians have doubts, economist Lawrence McQuillan shows why Newsom’s plan is not working.

Only Hawaii surpasses California as the most expensive place to build housing, and it takes about five years “from concept to move-in.” This expense, largely due to excessive regulation, has saddled California with a “severe housing shortage.”

Housing First makes few demands on the homeless themselves, and crowds out both shelter space and treatment solutions. For every person housed under the current plan, “up to four more become newly homeless.”  Simply putting a roof over the head of people with substance abuse and mental illness “does not resolve their root causes of homelessness and may make matters worse.”

Housing First, McQuillan has explained, is “a misguided, budget-busting, Sisyphean pipe dream of the state’s political class, which has produced concentrated urban areas of human misery such as The Jungle (San Jose), Skid Row (Los Angeles), the Tenderloin (San Francisco), and Wood Street (Oakland).”

Squalor also prevails in many parts of Sacramento and San Diego, once billed as “America’s Finest City.”

Like McQuillan, Bill Walton supported high-tech shelter tents as a stop-gap measure, but the “political will” is not there. With the departure of Walton, the city, state and nation have lost an eloquent advocate for common-sense policies. Still, there’s more about him people should know.

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Walton was a big fan of Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis, “a combination of Kareem, Larry Bird, and Pete Maravich.” Before 1991, the Lithuanians were forced to play for the Soviet Union. They wanted to field their own national team for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, but their country lay in ruins. Golden State Warriors assistant coach Donnie Nelson sought out the Grateful Dead.

The group’s foundation cut the Lithuanians a big check and had their logo designer send a box of tie-dyed T-shirts in Lithuania’s national colors, with an image of  a skeleton dunking a basketball. The Lithuanians defeated Russia for the bronze medal and the victors posed in their T-shirts.

In 2011, when Sabonis was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he asked Bill Walton to be his presenter. Before the ceremony, Sabonis slipped Walton one of the original T-shirts from 1992. For Walton, a huge Grateful Dead fan, “It was as emotional and powerful of a moment as I’ve ever had in my life.”

It was a life like no other. Rest in peace big fella.

Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland. 

​ Orange County Register 

Kings add assistant Newell Brown to Jim Hiller’s staff

• May 30, 2024

The Kings have hired former Ducks assistant coach Newell Brown to join newly promoted coach Jim Hiller’s staff, the team announced Thursday in a news release.

After Hiller’s February promotion to interim head coach, he continued his duties running the power play. With the removal of that interim tag, the man-advantage maestro will now be Brown, who will also work with the Kings’ forwards. D.J. Smith, who was fired as head coach by the Ottawa Senators last season, joined the Kings when Hiller was promoted, and will stay on to run the penalty kill and defense corps.

Brown, 62, began his coaching career at his alma mater, Michigan State University, in 1987, later making the leap to the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1996. He also spent time with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Arizona Coyotes, as well as two tenures with the Vancouver Canucks, one that included a pair of Presidents’ Trophy wins in 2011 and 2012. He had three separate stints with the Ducks, one that encompassed their 2007 Stanley Cup triumph.

Most recently, he served under Dallas Eakins for two campaigns and Greg Cronin for one with the Ducks, though the Ducks opted not to renew his contract this spring. When Brown rejoined their staff in 2021, they had just produced an NHL all-time-worst 8.9% power-play percentage the year prior, when Brown’s Canucks also struggled, finishing 25th in the league.

Though inconsistent personnel on what were arguably undermanned units even when fully healthy mitigated some of its toothlessness, the Ducks’ power play remained fairly feeble. It produced the NHL’s sixth worst by conversion rate over the course of three seasons. It finished with the second-worst percentage in 2022-23, rebounding somewhat to finish seventh from the bottom last year.

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Brown has been known as an innovator of zone entries that incorporate drop passes, backward dishes designed to create space and speed for a trailing puck carrier. Kings wingers Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala have often executed such plays effectively.

The Kings had endured years of futility on the power play, even as they were winning championships in 2012 and 2014 –– from 2010-11 until Hiller came aboard in 2022-23 they ranked 26th among 32 franchises –– but Hiller helped them attain a clip that tied for the second highest single-season conversion rate in recorded franchise history. The NHL has kept official records of power-play percentages from the 1977-78 season onward, a decade after the Kings joined the league.

Last season, the Kings slipped from fourth to 12th in the NHL, though they cashed in more efficiently than all but seven other prior Kings teams. The playoffs were a nightmare, however, as they went from scoring on a third of their opportunities in the 2023 postseason to going 0-for-12 in 2024.

​ Orange County Register 

Horse racing notes: Big City Lights tries to extend streak at Santa Anita

• May 30, 2024

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Thursday)

Jockeys / Wins

Antonio Fresu / 21

Juan Hernandez / 20

Umberto Rispoli / 18

Kyle Frey / 17

Edwin Maldonado / 15

Trainers / Wins

Mark Glatt / 11

Phil D’Amato / 11

Steve Knapp / 10

Doug O’Neill / 10

John Sadler / 9

WEEKEND STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $200,000, Grade II Triple Bend Stakes, 4-year-olds and up, 7 furlongs

• $100,000, Grade III Honeymoon Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/8 miles on turf

Sunday

• $100,000 Desert Stormer Stakes, fillies and mares, 4 and up, 6 furlongs

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Santa Anita’s stakes Saturday have horses trying to climb the class ladder. Big City Lights (Kyle Frey riding), winner of the Grade III Palos Verdes Stakes last time out, shoots for a third win in a row in a four-horse edition of the Grade II Triple Bend. Shiloh’s Mistress (Umberto Rispoli) and Circle of Trust (Antonio Fresu), second and third to Medoro in the Grade III Providencia, seek a first stakes win in the Grade III Honeymoon.

• Art Wilson, the horse-racing writer for this and other Southern California News Group papers who died Feb. 18 at age 71, will be honored with a race named for him at Santa Anita on Sunday.

• Santa Anita named Jeff Siegel morning-line oddsmaker to succeed Jon White, who announced his retirement effective at the end of this season June 16. Siegel is a widely respected handicapper who has made selections for the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune as well as on track websites and TV shows.

•  Juan Hernandez was Santa Anita’s hottest jockey last week, riding six winners to move up to second in the standings. Hernandez won the Crystal Water Stakes with Kings River Knight and the Snow Chief Stakes with Shady Tiger among four victories Saturday, and the Santa Margarita Stakes with Adare Manor on Sunday.

• Up To Party is the fastest qualifier for the June 16 Ed Burke Million Futurity at Los Alamitos after running 350 yards in 17.583 seconds in one of 12 trials Sunday. Up To Party and Fear N Fridays (17.77) were both ridden by leading quarter-horse jockey Armando Cervantes; they and Laredeaux (17.831) were saddled by top quarter-horse trainer Monty Arrosa.

• The Belmont Stakes on June 8 is the target for at least a dozen, according to reports. Confirmed are Preakness winner Seize the Grey, Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone, Honor Marie and Dornich. Under consideration are Derby winner Mystik Dan, Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna, Fierceness, Tuscan Gold, Antiquarian, Batten Down, Mindframe, Protective and The Wine Steward.

• Frustration continues at Golden Gate Fields as the Albany, Calif., track nears its final day June 9. There’s no racing Friday, making it the sixth card to be canceled in April and May because too few horses were entered.

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• The Santa Anita maiden race won by Eagles Flight, half-brother of 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline, was delayed a few minutes Monday. Jockey Flavien Prat came out in the wrong silks and had to change to the tan and green of Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Equine, the 3-year-old’s breeder and part-owner. “I thought it was important to have that corrected,” trainer John Sadler said. “That was part of the original plan with the breeder, that he was going to run in her silks.”

• The Chosen Vron’s connections were presented the trophy for winning the Thor’s Echo Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday by Doug O’Neill, who trained Thor’s Echo to his 2006 Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory. O’Neill expressed admiration for The Chosen Vron, the 6-year-old California-bred star. “He’s truly an exceptional horse, isn’t he?” O’Neill said. “Those horses are like Mick Jagger in the music world. They put on their pants the same way as we do, but just the way they carry themselves is unique.”

— Kevin Modesti

​ Orange County Register 

Disney plan calls for investing up to $17 billion in Florida parks

• May 30, 2024

Florida’s tourism oversight district is poised to adopt a new development agreement with The Walt Disney Co. that officials say will bring up $17 billion of investments at Disney World over the next 10 to 20 years.

The district’s board will take up the plan on Wednesday, addressing a key source of contention between Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney.

“With Walt Disney World’s substantial investments, we anticipate economic growth, job creation, and support for local businesses, alongside environmental stewardship and workforce housing initiatives, benefitting Central Florida’s community,” Stephanie Kopelousos, administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, said in a prepared statement.

In the 15-year agreement, Disney pledges to fund at least $10 million in affordable housing projects and create a local business hiring program that would award a minimum of 50% of the value of all construction work to Florida-based businesses.

District officials say they have agreed to continue providing infrastructure to support Disney’s growth. Both parties would have to consent to changes to the plan, according to the district.

Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The agreement covers about 17,300 acres owned by Disney, according to a legal announcement. It authorizes a maximum of five major theme parks, one more than Disney operates in Central Florida now. Company officials have not announced a fifth theme park.

It also allows a maximum of five minor theme parks, such as a water park, nearly 1.3 million square feet of office space, 1.7 million square feet of restaurant/retail space and 53,467 hotel rooms.

The proposed plan comes after Disney and the district agreed in March to settle a lawsuit in state court over development issues.

The settlement said development agreements and covenants approved by a Disney-friendly board shortly before a state takeover in February 2023 are null and void.

The district agreed to “consult with Disney” while reviewing and amending a 2020 plan, according to the settlement.

Disney recently announced it will invest $60 billion into its cruise lines and theme parks around the world, setting off speculation that the entertainment giant could be eyeing a fifth Orlando theme park. Disney’s competitor, Universal Orlando, is set to open a new theme park, Epic Universe, in 2025.

After the settlement, both sides signaled they were ready to work together on economic development.

The proposed plan seems to be a positive for Central Florida, said Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor and author of the book “Married to the Mouse” on Disney World’s origin story.

“We’re possibly seeing CFTOD [Central Florida Tourism Oversight District] starting to do what they’re supposed to do: building things, not just complaining about things,” he said. “Central Florida will be better off for it.”

State Sen. Linda Stewart, a critic of the district, said her concerns have lessened as of late, and the development agreement appears to be another sign of improved relations between Disney and state officials.

“Things have been a little smoother over there,” the Orlando Democrat said. “The board hasn’t decided on their own without consultation we are doing this and that. That’s not what is happening now. There is more cooperation.”

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has played a starring role in DeSantis’ nationally watched battle with Disney. Formerly known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney used it for decades to effectively self-govern its Central Florida theme parks and resorts. A 1967 arrangement allowed Disney to elect the district’s five-member board, giving it control.

The Disney-DeSantis feud started in 2022 when the company opposed what critics called the “don’t say gay” law, which limited classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation.

DeSantis attacked Disney as a “woke” corporation and vowed to end what he called “special privileges” the company enjoyed in Florida. Disney vowed to work to get the law overturned and paused its political giving in Florida.

Last year, the Legislature upended that arrangement and gave the governor the power to appoint the district’s board members. In February 2023, DeSantis replaced Disney loyalists on the board with Republican allies.

When the new DeSantis-aligned board members took over, they discovered their predecessors had approved agreements and covenants limiting the new board’s authority over development. That sparked a power struggle and led to the lawsuit seeking to undo the agreements.

A separate lawsuit filed by Disney against DeSantis and state officials is pending in federal court. Disney asked an appeals court for a delay in that case to “facilitate” negotiations.

The deadline to file an opening brief was pushed back from April 17 to June 17.

​ Orange County Register