Historic ocean liner departs Philadelphia on voyage to become the world’s largest artificial reef

• February 19, 2025

By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI, Associated Press

The historic, aging ocean liner that a Florida county plans to turn into the world’s largest artificial reef departed from south Philadelphia’s Delaware River waterfront on Wednesday, marking the opening segment of its final voyage.

The SS United States, a 1,000-foot vessel that shattered the transatlantic speed record on its maiden voyage in 1952, is being towed to Mobile, Alabama, for planned prep work before officials eventually sink it off Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The move comes about four months after the conservancy that oversees the ship and its landlord resolved a years-old rent dispute. Officials initially planned to move the vessel last November, but that was delayed due to concerns from the U.S. Coast Guard that the ship wasn’t stable enough to make the trip.

Officials in Okaloosa County on Florida’s coastal Panhandle hope it will become a barnacle-encrusted standout among the county’s more than 500 artificial reefs and a signature diving attraction that could generate millions of dollars annually in local tourism spending for scuba shops, charter fishing boats and hotels.

Officials have said the deal to buy the ship could eventually cost more than $10 million. The lengthy process of cleaning, transporting and sinking the vessel is expected to take at least one-and-a-half years.

The SS United States was once considered a beacon of American engineering, doubling as a military vessel that could carry thousands of troops. Its maiden voyage broke the transatlantic speed record in both directions when it reached an average speed of 36 knots, or just over 41 mph, The Associated Press reported from aboard the ship. The ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean in three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, besting the RMS Queen Mary’s time by 10 hours. To this day, the SS United States holds the transatlantic speed record for an ocean liner.

“The ship will forever symbolize our nation’s strength, innovation, and resilience,” said Susan Gibbs, president of the SS United States Conservancy and granddaughter of the naval architect who designed the vessel. “We wish her ‘fair winds and following seas’ on her historic journey to her new home.”

The SS United States became a reserve ship in 1969 and later bounced to various private owners who hoped to redevelop it. But they eventually found their plans too expensive or poorly timed, leaving the vessel looming for years on south Philadelphia’s Delaware River waterfront.

​ Orange County Register 

Clippers’ retooled roster has elevated expectations

• February 19, 2025

The final 28 regular-season games could be viewed as a new beginning for the Clippers, something of a do-over given their five new players, a near-full strength Kawhi Leonard and elevated expectations.

“We got a chance to be really, really good,” All-Star point guard James Harden said. “Really, really good, a really good team.”

Is that wishful thinking on Harden’s part or a real possibility?

The handful of players the team added before the All-Star break is expected to provide additional offensive flair to an established lineup but whether they can make a significant difference and lead the team deep into the playoffs remains to be seen.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said it will take time to integrate the new faces into the rotation, but he is, nonetheless, excited at the prospect of starting anew when the season resumes Thursday night in Milwaukee, the first of a seven-game road trip (though two games are against the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena).

“It’s good for us to start over, I think offensively,” Lue said. “(We need to) just to get better and do the things we need to do that’s necessary to win games. Just be better at executing what we’re trying to do.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time as far as rotations and how we play guys together and things like that. But from a basketball standpoint, I’m kind of excited about it.”

Guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, versatile Ben Simmons and backup center Drew Eubanks are expected to see significant minutes off the bench, while the other two newcomers – veteran guard Patty Mills and Marjon Beauchamp will play as needed.

Bogdanovic, a point guard known for his defensive ability and court vision, will be counted on not only on the defensive end but offensively as a facilitator. He said he didn’t think it would take long for the new players to adjust to their teammates.

“They did such a good job in helping all of us in this transition,” he said. “I mean the first day they were there ready with all sets, all plays, all defensive stuff, Coach Jeff, Coach Ty, so everybody, all assistant coaches, they were on point and when I moved here, I didn’t feel anything in transition. … They are giving me such confidence to play here, and I really like this team.”

Simmons, a 6-foot-10 former All-Star wing, had a solid debut, recording 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and one blocked shot, with zero turnovers in his debut against the Utah Jazz last week. He can play at least four positions.

“I’m excited man, I mean Ben brings a skill set that we don’t have other than myself, his passing ability and his speed pushing the ball in the offense to get guys involved,” Harden said.

Leonard returned to the lineup after a lengthy recovery from knee issues, long after the Clippers had established their identity as a defense-first team. The Clippers are limiting their opponents to 108.3 points per game, the second-best mark in the NBA.

“I thought the first 35 or so games without Kawhi, the guys did a great job with just coming together collectively, especially on the defensive end and some guys had career years so far,” Lue said, singling out guard Norman Powell and center Ivica Zubac.

Still, Leonard gives the Clippers an added dimension on both ends of the court. He is averaging 16.3 points on 46.4% shooting, 4.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steal in 15 games and only recently topped the 30-minute mark in games.

“Overall, for me it’s just a fresh start,” Leonard said, adding that he will leave others to judge how well he is playing.

“That’s up to other people that rate me or assess what I’m doing, but I’m still getting in a mix of things and learning JVG’s (Jeff Van Gundy’s) concepts on the team. … It’s just a learning process for me to keep going and just want to keep getting better.”

So now, Bogdanovic and Simmons, along with Eubanks and a healthy Leonard give the Clippers a legitimate shot at possibly a higher seed and a deep postseason run.

The Clippers, who closed their first 54 games by winning three in a row and six of 10, sit in the No. 6 spot in the congested Western Conference.

“I think every team needs to, wants to come out the All-Star break and be playing with (a high intensity),” Harden said. “If we want to get to where we want to go, the time is now. We added some shooting, we added some defense and obviously with a healthy Kawhi we’ve got a chance to compete with anybody. So, I think for us, it’s just finding out how we want to play and attacking it.”

CLIPPERS AT BUCKS

When: Thursday, 5 p.m. PT

Where: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee

TV/radio: FDSN SoCal/570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

2 people are dead after a small plane collision in Arizona, authorities say

• February 19, 2025

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — At least two people are dead after a midair collision involving two small planes in southern Arizona, authorities said Wednesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the collision near an airport on the outskirts of Tucson. The Marana Police Department confirmed two deaths after responding to the crash.

The Associated Press left a message with a police spokesperson seeking additional details.

Last week, one of two pilots died on a private jet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil after the aircraft veered off a runway in Arizona and hit a business jet.

There have been four major aviation disaster in North America in the last month, with the most recent involving a Delta jet that flipped on its roof while landing in Toronto and the deadly crash of commuter plane in Alaska. In late January, 67 people aboard an American Airlines passenger were killed when an Army helicopter collided with it in Washington, D.C., marking the country’s deadliest aviation disaster since 2001. Just a day later, a medical transport jet with a child patient, her mother and four others aboard crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood on Jan. 31, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes. That crash killed seven people, including all those aboard, and injured 19 others.

​ Orange County Register 

Israel’s West Bank crackdown triggers a wave of displacement unseen in decades

• February 19, 2025

By ISABEL DEBRE

FAR’A REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — By car and on foot, through muddy olive groves and snipers’ sight lines, tens of thousands of Palestinians in recent weeks have fled Israeli military operations across the northern West Bank — the largest displacement in the occupied territory since the 1967 Mideast war.

After announcing a widespread crackdown against West Bank militants on Jan. 21 — just two days after its ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza — Israeli forces descended on the restive city of Jenin, as they have dozens of times since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

But unlike past operations, Israeli forces then pushed deeper and more forcefully into several other nearby towns, including Tulkarem, Far’a and Nur Shams, scattering families and stirring bitter memories of the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

During that war, 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in what is now Israel. That Nakba, or “catastrophe,” as Palestinians call it, gave rise to the crowded West Bank towns now under assault and still known as refugee camps.

“This is our nakba,” said Abed Sabagh, 53, who bundled his seven children into the car on Feb. 9 as sound bombs blared in Nur Shams camp, where he was born to parents who fled the 1948 war.

Tactics from Gaza

Humanitarian officials say they haven’t seen such displacement in the West Bank since the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the territory west of the Jordan River, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, displacing another 300,000 Palestinians.

“This is unprecedented. When you add to this the destruction of infrastructure, we’re reaching a point where the camps are becoming uninhabitable,” said Roland Friedrich, director of West Bank affairs for the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency. More than 40,100 Palestinians have fled their homes in the ongoing military operation, according to the agency.

Experts say that Israel’s tactics in the West Bank are becoming almost indistinguishable from those deployed in Gaza. Already, President Donald Trump’s plan for the mass transfer of Palestinians out of Gaza has emboldened Israel’s far-right to renew calls for annexation of the West Bank.

“The idea of ‘cleansing’ the land of Palestinians is more popular today than ever before,” said Yagil Levy, head of the Institute for the Study of Civil-Military Relations at Britain’s Open University.

The Israeli army denies issuing evacuation orders in the West Bank. It said troops secure passages for those wanting to leave on their own accord.

Seven minutes to leave home

Over a dozen displaced Palestinians interviewed in the last week said they did not flee their homes out of fear, but on the orders of Israeli security forces. Associated Press journalists in the Nur Shams camp also heard Israeli soldiers shouting through mosque megaphones, ordering people to leave.

Some displaced families said soldiers were polite, knocking on doors and assuring them they could return when the army left. Others said they were ruthless, ransacking rooms, waving rifles and hustling residents out of their homes despite pleas for more time.

“I was sobbing, asking them, ‘Why do you want me to leave my house?’ My baby is upstairs, just let me get my baby please,’” Ayat Abdullah, 30, recalled from a shelter for displaced people in the village of Kafr al-Labd. “They gave us seven minutes. I brought my children, thank God. Nothing else.”

Told to make their own way, Abdullah trudged 10 kilometers (six miles) on a path lighted only by the glow from her phone as rain turned the ground to mud. She said she clutched her children tight, braving possible snipers that had killed a 23-year-old pregnant woman just hours earlier on Feb. 9.

Her 5-year-old son, Nidal, interrupted her story, pursing his lips together to make a loud buzzing sound.

“You’re right, my love,” she replied. “That’s the sound the drones made when we left home.”

Hospitality, for now

In the nearby town of Anabta, volunteers moved in and out of mosques and government buildings that have become makeshift shelters — delivering donated blankets, serving bitter coffee, distributing boiled eggs for breakfast and whipping up vats of rice and chicken for dinner.

Residents have opened their homes to families fleeing Nur Shams and Tulkarem.

“This is our duty in the current security situation,” said Thabet A’mar, the mayor of Anabta.

But he stressed that the town’s welcoming hand should not be mistaken for anything more.

“We insist that their displacement is temporary,” he said.

Staying put

When the invasion started on Feb. 2, Israeli bulldozers ruptured underground pipes. Taps ran dry. Sewage gushed. Internet service was shut off. Schools closed. Food supplies dwindled. Explosions echoed.

Ahmad Sobuh could understand how his neighbors chose to flee the Far’a refugee camp during Israel’s 10-day incursion. But he scavenged rainwater to drink and hunkered down in his home, swearing to himself, his family and the Israeli soldiers knocking at his door that he would stay.

The soldiers advised against that, informing Sobuh’s family on Feb. 11 that, because a room had raised suspicion for containing security cameras and an object resembling a weapon, they would blow up the second floor.

The surveillance cameras, which Israeli soldiers argued could be exploited by Palestinian fighters, were not unusual in the volatile neighborhood, Sobuh said, as families can observe street battles and Israeli army operations from inside.

But the second claim sent him clambering upstairs, where he found his nephew’s water pipe, shaped like a rifle.

Hours later, the explosion left his nephew’s room naked to the wind and shattered most others. It was too dangerous to stay.

“They are doing everything they can to push us out,” he said of Israel’s military, which, according to the U.N. agency for refugees, has demolished hundreds of homes across the four camps this year.

The Israeli army has described its ongoing campaign as a crucial counterterrorism effort to prevent attacks like Oct. 7, and said steps were taken to mitigate the impact on civilians.

A chilling return

The first thing Doha Abu Dgheish noticed about her family’s five-story home 10 days after Israeli troops forced them to leave, she said, was the smell.

Venturing inside as Israeli troops withdrew from Far’a camp, she found rotten food and toilets piled with excrement. Pet parakeets had vanished from their cages. Pages of the Quran had been defaced with graphic drawings. Israeli forces had apparently used explosives to blow every door off its hinges, even though none had been locked.

Rama, her 11-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, screamed upon finding her doll’s skirt torn and its face covered with more graphic drawings.

AP journalists visited the Abu Dgheish home on Feb. 12, hours after their return.

Nearly two dozen Palestinians interviewed across the four West Bank refugee camps this month described army units taking over civilian homes to use as a dormitories, storerooms or lookout points. The Abu Dgheish family accused Israeli soldiers of vandalizing their home, as did multiple families in Far’a.

The Israeli army blamed fighters for embedding themselves in civilian infrastructure. Soldiers may be “required to operate from civilian homes for varying periods,” it said, adding that the destruction of civilian property was a violation of the military’s rules and does not conform to its values.

It said “any exceptional incidents that raise concerns regarding a deviation from these orders” are “thoroughly addressed,” without elaborating.

For Abu Dgheish, the mess was emblematic of the emotional whiplash of return. No one knows when they’ll have to flee again.

“It’s like they want us to feel that we’re never safe,” she said. ”That we have no control.”

​ Orange County Register 

Raducanu approaches the umpire in tears and a man is ejected during a second-round match in Dubai

• February 19, 2025

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Concern over a man who’d exhibited “fixated behavior” caused Emma Raducanu to approach the chair umpire in tears and take an unscheduled break in her second-round match at the Dubai Championships, the Women’s Tennis Association said Wednesday.

There’d been no immediate explanation Tuesday when the 2021 U.S. Open champion walked to the umpire after the second game, said a few words and then stood in a small space between the back of the official’s chair and barrier netting adjacent to Court 2.

Raducanu, who was still a teenager in 2022 when a man in Britain was convicted of stalking her at her family home the previous year, returned to play after a brief delay at 2-0 down and eventually lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to 14th-seeded Karolina Muchova.

On Wednesday, the WTA issued a statement explaining that Raducanu was approached in a public space Monday “by a man who exhibited fixated behavior” and “this same individual was identified in the first few rows during Emma’s match on Tuesday … and subsequently ejected.”

“He will be banned from all WTA events pending a threat assessment.”

The chair umpire called tournament organizers immediately when Raducanu reported her concerns in the first set of the night match, and Muchova walked over to console the 22-year-old British player.

Raducanu then picked up a towel, wiped her face, nodded and continued the match. She didn’t immediately comment on the incident.

The WTA said it was working with Raducanu and her team “to ensure her well-being and provide any necessary support.”

Raducanu rose to fame in 2021 by winning the U.S. Open as a qualifier, one of the the most unlikely achievements in tennis. She hasn’t advanced past the third round at a major since then and has spent long stints recovering from injuries.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

​ Orange County Register 

Trump throws Senate GOP budget bill in turmoil as Vance heads to Capitol Hill to meet with senators

• February 19, 2025

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — No sooner had Senate Republicans voted to begin work on $340 billion budget bill focused on funding the White House’s mass deportations and border security agenda than President Donald Trump threw it into turmoil.

Trump on Wednesday criticized the approach from the Senate Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and sided with the House GOP’s broader, if politically difficult, plan that includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and other priorities. Senators wanted to address those later, in a second package.

Vice President JD Vance was on his way to Capitol Hill to confer privately with Republican senators.

“Unlike the Lindsey Graham version of the very important Legislation currently being discussed, the House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it!” Trump posted on social media.

Trump wants the House’s version passed as a way to “kickstart” the process and “move all of our priorities to the concept of, ‘ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL.’”

The Senate’s Republican leadership is scrambling after being blindsided by the post.

“As they say, I did not see that one coming,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Thune had engineered the two-bill approach as a way to deliver an early victory for the White House and had pushed the Senate forward while the House is away on recess this week, saying it was time to act. Thune was meeting privately in his office with Graham.

“We’re planning to proceed, but obviously we are interested in, and hoping to hear with more clarity where the White House is coming from,” Thune said.

The sudden turn of events means more upheaval in the difficult budget process. Republicans have majority control of the House and Senate, but face big hurdles in trying to put the president’s agenda into law as Democrats prepare to counter the onslaught of actions from the White House.

Late Tuesday, Republicans had pushed ahead on the scaled-back budget bill, on a party-line vote, 50-47, in what was supposed to be the first step in unlocking Trump’s campaign promises — tax cuts, energy production and border controls — and dominating the agenda on Capitol Hill.

But it also comes as the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort is slashing costs across government departments, leaving a trail of fired federal workers and dismantling programs on which many Americans depend. Democrats, having floundered amid the initial upheaval coming from the White House, have emerged galvanized as they try to warn the public about what is at stake.

“These bills that they have have one purpose — and that is they’re trying to give a tax break to their billionaire buddies and have you, the average American person, pay for it,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York told The Associated Press.

Schumer convened a private call over the weekend with Democratic senators and agreed on a strategy to challenge Republicans for prioritizing tax cuts that primarily flow to the wealthy at the expense of program and service reductions in health care, scientific research, veterans services and elsewhere.

“This is going to be a long, drawn-out fight,” Schumer said.

The Senate’s budget process begins this week, with an initial 50 hours of debate followed by an expected all-night session with lots of attempts to amend the package.

The Republican package would allow $175 billion to be spent on border security, including money for mass deportation operations and building the U.S.-Mexico border wall, in addition to a $150 billion boost to the Pentagon and $20 billion for the Coast Guard.

Republicans are determined to push ahead after Trump border czar Tom Homan and top aide Stephen Miller told senators privately last week that they are running short of cash to accomplish the president’s immigration priorities.

Trump met with Republican senators last month, expressing no preference for one bill or two, but just that Congress “get the result.”

The Senate Budget Committee said its package would cost about $85.5 billion a year, for four years of Trump’s presidency, paid for with new reductions and revenues elsewhere that other committees will draw up.

Eyeing ways to pay for it, Republican senators are considering a rollback of the Biden administration’s methane emissions fee, which was approved by Democrats as part of climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and hoping to draw new revenue from energy leases as they aim to spur domestic energy production.

The House GOP bill is multiple times larger, with $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $1.5 trillion in spending reductions over the decade across Medicaid health care programs, food stamps and other services used by large swaths of the country. The cuts could ultimately grow to $2 trillion to appease hard-right conservatives.

The budget plans are being considered under what’s called the reconciliation process, which allows passage on a simple majority vote without many of the procedural hurdles that stall bills. Once rare, reconciliation is increasingly being used in the House and Senate to pass big packages on party-line votes when one party controls the White House and Congress.

During Trump’s first term, Republicans used the reconciliation process to pass the GOP tax cuts in 2017. Democrats used reconciliation during the Biden presidency era to approve COVID relief and also the Inflation Reduction Act.

​ Orange County Register 

Beauty market shifts to target the young at heart in a rapidly aging Japan

• February 19, 2025

By YURI KAGEYAMA

TOKYO (AP) — Yoshiko Abe is about to turn 89, but that hasn’t stopped her from going to the gym every day and trying the free-of-charge makeup course at her housing complex.

“It was really helpful,” she said, all smiles and glowing after putting on foundation and pink lipstick, something she hadn’t done in years.

Japan is the fastest-aging society in the world, where more than a quarter of its population is 65 and older, at 36 million people. In about a decade, the ratio will be one in three.

No wonder the young-at-heart, like Abe, is a growing target for Japan Inc. The market for older people is estimated to grow to more than 100 trillion yen ($650 billion) in size this year, according to a study by Mizuho Bank.

And that business isn’t just about remedies for sicknesses and old folks’ homes but taps into solid consumerism. The growth of artificial intelligence and robotics also offers promise for such services and gadgetry.

Akira Shimizu, professor of business at Keio University, calls them “cool grandpas and cute grannies” who remain sensitive to trends, including the latest luxury and health products.

“They think about the clothing and makeup that express their style,” he said.

From luxury cruises and “oldies” rock concerts, companies are leveraging the fact that older people these days remain active, go out with friends and on dates, so they want to dress up and look good, said Shimizu.

Maintaining one’s looks is good physical exercise because it takes hand agility to open cosmetics tubes and draw eyebrows nicely, and massaging the face gets one’s saliva glands going, according to Miwa Hiraku, the makeover class instructor from the Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido.

Shiseido Co., which started out as a pharmacy in 1872, said that makeup is not just good for your physical well-being but also your soul. The company has been holding free makeup courses for older people across the country.

“Putting on makeup works as a switch to turn on your energy at the start of your day,” said Hiraku, who vows to wear makeup even at 100.

“It’s not just about looking beautiful. It’s about living a long healthy life,” she said.

Yoshihiko Hotta, 85, the only man in the class of about 30 people, didn’t try the rouge but happily put on the hand cream and went along with all the exercise routines.

While acknowledging he felt some effects of aging like sore legs, he declared with conviction: “I don’t think age is relevant.”

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@yurikageyama

​ Orange County Register 

QR-code stickers mysteriously appear on 1,000 Munich graves. Police are now investigating

• February 19, 2025

BERLIN (AP) — Police in Munich are investigating a mystery: More than 1,000 stickers were put on gravestones and wooden crosses at three cemeteries in the German city, without any indication of where they came from or why.

The 5×3.5-centimeter (1.95×1.2-inch) stickers are printed with a QR code, that, when scanned, shows the name of the person buried in the grave and its location in the cemetery — but nothing else.

“We haven’t found any pattern behind this yet. The stickers were put both on decades-old gravestones and very new graves that so far only have a wooden cross,” police spokesperson Christian Drexler told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

“People who have witnessed anybody putting the stickers on the graves are asked to reach out to the respective cemetery’s administration,” Drexler said.

The stickers surfaced in recent days at the Waldfriedhof, Sendlinger Friedhof and Friedhof Solln cemeteries.

Police are not only trying to find out who is behind the stickers, but are also investigating property damage, because the gravestones were partially damaged and discolored when the stickers were removed.

​ Orange County Register