Santa Margarita baseball knocks off St. John Bosco with Trevor Banning’s grand slam

• March 13, 2024

Trevor Banning (1) of Santa Margarita, connects with the ball for a grand slam home run in a game against St. John Bosco in a Trinity League baseball game at Santa Margarita Catholic High Schoolin Rancho Santa Margarita on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — Junior Trevor Banning hit a go-ahead grand slam in the fifth inning Tuesday to give Santa Margarita a 5-2 win over St. John Bosco in the Trinity League opener at Santa Margarita High.

The Eagles (7-2-1, 1-0) trailed 2-1 in the fifth inning and had the bases loaded with two outs against Braves sophomore pitcher Julian Garcia.

Banning, who was 0 for 2 going into the at-bat, hit the ball well over the right field fence to give the Eagles the lead.

“He’s a very good pitcher and the first pitch he painted a fastball on the corner and I tipped my cap to him,” Banning said of Garcia. “Right when I hit it, I knew it was gone. It was one of the hardest balls I’ve ever hit. I didn’t even feel it off the bat.”

“He’s a very underrated player,” Santa Margarita coach Chris Malec said. “He’s a big time athlete and competitor. A lot of people are going to know his name in the future.”

The loss was the first of the season for St. John Bosco (6-1, 0-1).

Santa Margarita went 14-1 last season and won its first Trinity League championship, and ended a 19-year drought since it was the co-champions of the Serra League in 2004.

The Eagles went on to lose to JSerra in last season’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game, but won the CIF SoCal Regional championship.

“You have to fight for every win you can get in this league,” Malec said. “We are a young group and getting acclimated to the Trinity League with a win is huge for us.”

Both starting pitchers allowed baserunners but showed flashes of excellence on the mound.

Garcia had four strikeouts in five innings for the Braves and at one point retired eight Santa Margarita hitters in a row.

Ole Miss signee Cade Townsend got the win for the Eagles. He allowed two runs over five innings with six strikeouts.

“His fastball was electric and his changeup was the best I’ve seen it all year,” Malec said of Townsend.

Santa Margarita scored first when UCLA signee Logan De Groot drove in Brody Schumaker with a double in the first inning.

Schumaker, the son of Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, went 2 for 3 with two stolen bases and two runs scored.

St. John Bosco took the lead in the third with a two-run double by Zach Woodson to give the Braves a 2-1 lead.

After Banning’s grand slam, Chris Saucedo pitched two scoreless innings for the Eagles to earn the save. The junior escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning with a soft groundout.

Owen Tomich went 2 for 3 with a stolen base and a run for St. John Bosco. Aiden Olguin pitched a perfect inning of relief for the Braves.

The two teams play again Wednesday at St. John Bosco and wrap their season series Friday at Santa Margarita. Junior Ethan Russell will start on the mound Wednesday for the Eagles.

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​ Orange County Register 

Trump wins delegates needed to become GOP’s presumptive nominee for third straight election

• March 13, 2024

By JILL COLVIN (Associated Press)

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — Donald Trump, whose single turbulent term in the White House transformed the Republican Party, tested the resilience of democratic institutions in the U.S. and threatened alliances abroad, will lead the GOP in a third consecutive presidential election after clinching the nomination Tuesday.

With wins in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state, Trump surpassed the 1,215-delegate threshold needed to become the presumptive Republican nominee. He’ll formally accept the nomination at the Republican National Convention in July, by which point he could be in the remarkable position of being both a presidential candidate and convicted felon. Trump has been indicted in four separate criminal investigations and his first trial, which centers on payments made to a porn actress, is set to begin March 25 in New York City.

Trump’s victory in the GOP primary ushers in what will almost certainly be an extraordinarily negative general election campaign that will tug at the nation’s already searing political and cultural divides. He’ll face President Joe Biden in the fall, pitting two deeply unpopular figures against each other in a rematch of the 2020 campaign that few voters say they want to experience again.

Thirty-eight percent of Americans viewed Trump very or somewhat favorably in a February poll conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs, compared to 41% for Biden.

Trump is attempting to return to the White House after threatening democratic norms in the U.S. He refused to accept his loss to Biden in 2020, spending months grasping at baseless conspiracy theories of election fraud that were roundly rejected by the courts and his own attorney general. His rage during a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, helped rile up a mob of supporters who later violently attacked the U.S. Capitol in an effort to disrupt the congressional certification of Biden’s win.

Only in the wake of the insurrection, with storefronts in the nation’s capital boarded up and military vehicles parked on streets to prevent further violence, did Trump accept the reality that Biden would become president. He has since called Jan. 6 “a beautiful day” and aligned himself with those have been imprisoned for their actions — many for assaulting police officers — labeling them “hostages” and demanding their release.

Trump has been ambivalent about other basic democratic ideals during his 2024 campaign. He has not committed to accepting the results of this year’s election and, during a December interview on Fox News, suggested he would be a dictator for the first day of a new administration. He has aligned himself with autocratic leaders of other countries, most notably Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.

Such alliances are a departure from the longstanding posture of the U.S., which has focused on strengthening democracies abroad. But a Trump election could upend U.S. support for Ukraine after its invasion by Russia. And it could have dramatic implications for NATO.

During his years in the White House, Trump often derided the transatlantic alliance as antiquated and lamented that some countries weren’t spending enough on their own defense. He has maintained that critique this year, causing a stir on both sides of the Atlantic in February when he told a rally crowd that he once warned members that he would not only refuse to defend countries that were “delinquent,” but that he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to them.

Legal trouble

Trump becomes the GOP’s standard-bearer at a time of profound legal trouble, raising the personal stakes of an election that could determine whether he faces the prospect of time behind bars. He faces 91 felony charges in cases that span from the New York hush money case to his efforts to overturn the election and his hoarding of classified documents.

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While the New York case is moving forward this month, there’s significant uncertainty about the trajectory of the other, more serious cases, raising the prospect that they may not be decided until after the election.

The Republican Party’s rules for its convention do not address what might happen if the presumptive nominee is convicted of a crime. A conviction wouldn’t bar Trump from continuing to run, though a felon has never been a major party nominee or won the White House.

If he were to win in November, Trump could appoint an attorney general who would dismiss the federal charges he faces, a remarkable possibility that would undermine the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House.

In addition to the criminal cases, Trump owes in excess of $500 million in fines and interest after a judge in New York ruled he had engaged in a scheme to inflate his net worth to obtain favorable financing. He was ordered to pay $355 million, plus interest, in that case — adding to the $88.3 million he already owed writer E. Jean Carroll after he was found liable of defamation and sexual abuse.

Trump, so far, has deftly used the legal cases as a rallying cry, portraying them as a plot hatched by Democrats to keep him out of power. That argument proved powerful among GOP primary voters, with whom Trump remains a deeply popular figure.

He now enters the general election phase of the campaign in a competitive position, with voters frustrated by the current state of the economy after years of sharp inflation, despite robust growth and low unemployment, as well as growing concern about the influx of migrants across the southern border. As he did with success in 2016, Trump is seizing on immigration this year, deploying increasingly heated and inflammatory rhetoric in ways that often animate his supporters.

The 77-year-old Trump is aided by Biden’s perceived weaknesses. The 81-year-old president is broadly unpopular, with deep reservations among voters in both parties about his age and ability to assume the presidency for another four years, though he is not much older than Trump.

Biden is also struggling to replicate the coalition that ushered him into the presidency four years ago as some in his party, particularly younger voters and those on the left, have condemned his handling of Israel’s war against Hamas.

Trump’s headwinds

While those dynamics may play in Trump’s favor, he faces stiff headwinds in winning support beyond his base. A notable chunk of GOP primary voters backed his rivals, including Nikki Haley, who ended her campaign after the Super Tuesday races but has not endorsed Trump. Many of those voters have expressed ambivalence about backing him. He’ll have to change that if he wants to win the states that will likely decide the election, such as Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — each of which he lost in 2020.

It remains unclear how Trump’s legal cases will resonate in the general election, particularly among suburban voters, women and independents. Trump’s role in appointing the justices who overturned the constitutional right to an abortion could prove a liability in swing states, where women and independent voters are especially influential. He’s also made a string of racist comments, including an assertion that his criminal indictments boosted his support among Black Americans, that aren’t likely to win over more moderate voters.

Still, Trump’s speedy path to the nomination reflects more than a year of quiet work by his team to encourage states to adopt favorable delegate-selection rules, including pushing for winner-take-all contests that prevent second-place finishers from amassing delegates.

That helped Trump become the presumptive nominee much earlier than in recent presidential elections. Biden didn’t win enough delegates to formally become his party’s leader until June 2020. During his 2016 bid, Trump won the needed delegates by May.

This year, Trump handily dispatched his Republican primary rivals, sweeping the early voting states that typically set the tone for the campaign. The field included a range of prominent Republicans such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Haley, his former U.N. ambassador, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Mike Pence, who was Trump’s vice president.

At one point, DeSantis was ahead of Trump in early state polls. But he wilted in the national spotlight, failing to live up to sky-high expectations, despite $168 million in campaign and outside spending. DeSantis dropped out of the race after losing Iowa — a state he had staked his campaign on — and endorsed Trump.

In the end, Haley was Trump’s last challenger. She only won the District of Columbia and Vermont before ending her campaign.

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Mater Dei girls basketball player Addison Deal commits to Iowa

• March 13, 2024

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A challenging winter for Mater Dei girls basketball player Addison Deal brightened considerably Tuesday with her commitment to one of the best collegiate programs.

A beaming hue of yellow radiated from the junior’s social media page as she announced her commitment to Iowa.

5 Addison Deal (no. 12 espnW Super 60) has committed to Iowa!@deal_addie | @IowaWBB pic.twitter.com/8Dv0GkZmfb

— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) March 12, 2024

The 6-foot guard missed most of this past season with a sprained ankle.

“GOD IS GOODDD” Deal posted on social media after committing to the three-time defending Big Ten Conference champion.

“Very happy for Addie and her family,” former Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan said. “She has had to sit and watch for a few months now and it’s great to see her fired up. Hopefully she can be back on the court soon.”

Iowa (29-4), ranked second in the nation, is led by high-scoring guard Caitlin Clark. The senior recently became the all-time leading scorer for NCAA Division I basketball — women’s or men’s.

Last season, Clark helped lead the Hawkeyes to a runner-up finish to LSU in the NCAA Tournament.

“I chose Iowa because of the coaching staff, culture, the conference, style of play and competitive level Iowa has been playing at,” Deal said. “And, of course, it didn’t hurt that Caitlin has all the success she’s had at Iowa.”

“Caitlin has definitely helped put a national spotlight on Iowa and she’s now a household name,” Deal added. “

Deal, The Register’s player of the year last season, suffered a season-ending ankle injury against Ontario Christian in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona on Dec. 21. It was the Monarchs’ 13th game of the season.

In the 2022-23 season, Deal led Mater Dei in scoring by averaging 15 points, finished second in rebounding (5.3) and tied for the team lead in steals (2.7).

She played her freshman season at Pacifica Christian, averaging over 20 points in leading the Tritons to the CIF-SS Division 4A title.

Kiernan called Iowa a “great fit” for Deal, the No. 12 recruit in the class of 2025 according to HoopGurlz.

“She’s a big guard who can score, pass and rebound,” Kiernan said. “Iowa is a very up-tempo team that likes to push the pace. Addie will be good for them.”

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

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​ Orange County Register 

California’s secretive approach to lawmaking could use some sunshine

• March 13, 2024

It’s National Sunshine Week, launched in 2005 by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to highlight the importance of public access to government information.

In California, we’re marking it by trying to figure out how a new law raising the wages of fast food workers ended up with a controversial and disputed exemption for Panera Bread restaurants, and why everyone in on the negotiations had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

So the outlook for sunshine in California is, at best, partly cloudy.

The story of this new fast food workers law begins in September 2022, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 257, the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act. The law established a 10-member council in the government to establish wages, hours and working conditions in one particular sector of the economy. It applied to fast food chains.

Before the ink on the governor’s signature was dry, the restaurant industry launched a signature-gathering effort to qualify a referendum for the ballot. That froze the implementation of the law until the voters had the opportunity to decide its fate in the November 2024 election.

This caused great anger among the union special interests that lobbied for the bill, and eventually the result was another bill that aimed to reform the referendum process. Signed into law by Newsom on September 8, 2023, Assembly Bill 421 changed the law to allow the proponents of a referendum to withdraw it from the ballot up to 131 days before the election at which it would go before voters.

This is what enabled the backroom negotiations for a new law. The result was AB 1228, signed by the governor on September 28, 2023.

AB 1228 looks a lot like AB 257, but it removed a provision that made fast food corporate owners financially liable, along with franchisees, for workplace violations. The franchisees were left with a law that requires a minimum wage increase to $20 an hour effective April 1, and also sets up a government council that functions like a permanent union contract bargaining session, except without the bargaining.

Panera Bread was exempted, Bloomberg News reported, after Gov. Newsom pushed for a strangely specific exemption for fast food restaurants that produce and sell bread as a stand-alone menu item as long as they were doing it before September 15, 2023. Newsom denies pushing for it, and denies, without evidence, that Panera Bread is exempt.

KCRA’s Ashley Zavala reported that the final negotiations over AB 1228 were conducted by the Service Employees International Union, which demanded that the other parties at the table sign non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs. The other parties were fast food corporations and industry trade groups. Franchisees were not at the table. They were, as the old saying goes, on the menu.

From the editorial board: Non-disclosure agreements in Sacramento turn lawmaking into plunder

The referendum “reform” that spawned these secret negotiations was modeled on a 2014 law that did something similar for initiatives. Senate Bill 1253 allowed initiative proponents to remove their measure from the ballot after it had qualified, if they were able to work out an acceptable deal with the legislature for something else.

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That’s how Proposition 19 got on the November ballot in 2020. The California Association of Realtors originally wanted a measure that would provide portability of property tax bills for longtime owners over age 55 who wished to move to a new home and keep their low property taxes. After going through the Sacramento sausage factory, the measure that ended up on the ballot had the blessing of the California Professional Firefighters and  a massive tax increase on property passed from parents to children.

Other initiatives that qualified for the ballot and then disappeared after private negotiations include 2022 measures that addressed plastic waste and medical malpractice lawsuit caps. In both cases, the legislature passed a compromise bill.

This process has allowed the direct democracy powers in the state constitution, which date to 1911, to become just one more grind in the sausage factory. Voters can sign petitions all day long, but in many cases all they’re doing is empowering a special interest group to wield leverage with state lawmakers, or other special interest groups, in secret negotiations.

Repeal AB 421 and SB 1253. Let the sun shine.

Write [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Tuesday, March 12

• March 13, 2024

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Tuesday, March 12

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

TUESDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

TRINITY LEAGUE

Santa Margarita 5, St. John Bosco 2

SM: Townsend (W, 5IP, 6H, 2R, 6K). Banning 1-3, HR, 4RBI. Schumacher 2-3, 2SB, 2R. De Groot 2B, RBI.

Other Trinity scores

Orange Lutheran 4, JSerra 1

Mater Dei 5, Servite 1

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

University 8, Portola 0

Uni: Berger (W, 7IP, H, 0R, 9K). Weston 2-3, 3B, R. Lobianco 2-3, RBI

Por: Tsuge 1-2.

Other PCL scores

Irvine 7, Sage Hill 2

Woodbridge 7, Laguna Hills 4

Beckman 0, Northwood 0, tie

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

San Juan Hills 1, Aliso Niguel 0

SJH: Plisinski (W, 5IP, H, 0R, 3K). Gravdal (Sv, 1IP, 0R, 0H). Meeker 1-2, RBI.

AN: Schaff (4IP, 4H, 0R, K). Nadolski 1-4.

GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

Bolsa Grande 9, Santiago 3

GOLDEN WEST LEAGUE

Ocean View 4, Garden Grove 0

ORANGE COAST LEAGUE

Costa Mesa 2, Calvary Chapel 0

CM: Clark (W, CG 7IP 5H 0R 2K). Comte 1-3, 1R. Morales 1-2, RBI.

Estancia 8, Santa Ana 1

Est: Moyer (W 4-1, 5IP, ER, 4H, 5K). Uchytil 3-4, HR, 3R, RBI. Humphries 2-5, 2R, RBI, 2 2B. Witte 1-1, 2RBI, 3BB.

Other OCL scores

St. Margaret’s 15, Orange 0

NONLEAGUE

Edison 4, Katella 3

Edi: Viers (6IP, 6H, 0R, 6K). Johnson 2-4, RBI. Nathan 1-3, 2B, RBI.

Kat: Moreno 2-4, 2B, 2RBI. Barba 2-4.

Fullerton 6, Esperanza 3

Ful: Advita (W, 5IP, ER, 3H, 3K). Fitzgerald (Sv, IP, 2K). Meni 2-2, 2R, BB. Fany 1-3, R.

Other nonleague scores

Los Osos 7, Capistrano Valley 1

El Dorado 5, Mira Costa 0

Hart 2, Villa Park 1

Murrieta Valley 2, Trabuco Hills 0

Savanna 6, Westminster 3

Yorba Linda 8, Covina 3

Oxford Academy 7, Segerstrom 6

Dana Hills 7, Corona del Mar 0

Brea Olinda 2, Sonora 1

SOFTBALL

ORANGE LEAGUE

Savanna 11, Magnolia 0

Western 14, Santa Ana Valley 1

Anaheim 21, Century 1

SUNSET LEAGUE

Huntington Beach 3, Edison 1

SAN JOAQUIN LEAGUE

Capistrano Valley Christian 6, Southlands Christian 1

NONLEAGUE

Mission Viejo 5, Santa Margarita 4 (8 innings)

Note: Mission Viejo’s Sofia Elliott struck out nine in five scoreless innings and drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth on a squeeze bunt.

Other nonleague scores

Tustin 17, Saddleback 0

Downey 14, Buena Park 4

Sunny Hills 4, California 2

Oxford Academy 10, Orange 0

Canyon 10, El Dorado 0

Los Alamitos 9, Cypress 1

San Clemente 6, San Juan Hills 3

Yorba Linda 10, Esperanza 5

Canyon 10, El Dorado 0

El Modena 11, Foothill 2

Brea Olinda 9, Villa Park 4

Dana Hills 9, Godinez 0

Crean Lutheran 12, Estancia 2

El Toro 3, Garden Grove 2

JSerra 8, Tesoro 5

Beckman 2, Aliso Niguel 1

Calvary Chapel 6, La Quinta 1

Costa Mesa 8, Whitney 6

BOYS GOLF

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Kennedy 233, Tustin 244

TRINITY LEAGUE

Orange Lutheran 192, St. John Bosco 236

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE

Foothill 192, Villa Park 217

ORANGE COAST LEAGUE

St. Margaret’s 195, Katella 301

Orange 300, Westminster 308

NONLEAGUE

Fullerton 186, Canyon 190

Fullerton GC (par 33)

Medalist: Morris (Can) 32

Other nonleague scores

Sunny Hills 210, Valencia 219

Sunny Hills 183, Mater Dei 191

Gahr 245, Oxford Academy 264

BOYS TENNIS

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE

Yorba Linda 11, Villa Park 7

Foothill 9, Canyon 9 (FH wins on games, 85-78)

NORTH HILLS LEAGUE

Brea Olinda 10, Esperanza 8

El Dorado 16, El Modena 2

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Kennedy 9, Pacifica 9 (Ken. wins on games, 75-59)

ORANGE LEAGUE

Magnolia 16, Century 2

Western 18, Savanna 0

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Capistrano Valley 10, Trabuco Hills 8

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Beckman 13, Northwood 5

TRINITY LEAGUE

JSerra 15, Orange Lutheran 3

Santa Margarita 17, St. John Bosco 1

Mater Dei 10, Servite 8

GOLDEN WEST LEAGUE

Ocean View 10, Godinez 8

605 LEAGUE

Whitney 15, Oxford Academy 3

NONLEAGUE

Corona del Mar 18, Fountain Valley 0

Edison 14, Laguna Beach 4

Crean Lutheran 15, St. Margaret’s 3

Tustin 16, Orange 2

BOYS LACROSSE

NONLEAGUE

El Modena 8, Lakewood 4

Beckman 10, Yorba Linda 9

San Juan Hills 9. Crean Lutheran 8

JSerra 14, Aliso Niguel 5

GIRLS LACROSSE

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE

El Dorado 17, El Modena 1

NONLEAGUE

Mater Dei 25, Los Alamitos 10

Goals: (MD) Hefner 5, Evans 5, Filbert 4, van der Steen 4

Other nonleague scores

JSerra 10, Newport Harbor 4

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

ORANGE LEAGUE

Western def. Savanna, 22-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 15-13

Anaheim def. Santa Ana Valley, 3-0

Magnolia def. Century, 25-14, 25-16, 25-17

EMPIRE LEAGUE

Cypress def. Crean Lutheran, 25-23, 28-26, 20-25, 22-25, 15-12

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Mission Viejo def. Capistrano Valley, 25-20, 25-20, 27-25

El Toro def. Dana Hills, 18-25, 25-19, 25-14, 25-21

SOUTH COAST LEAGUE

Trabuco Hills def. Aliso Niguel, 3-2

GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

La Quinta def. Los Amigos, 25-17, 25-12, 25-20

Rancho Alamitos def. Santiago, 3-0

FREEWAY LEAGUE

Buena Park def. La Habra, 3-0

Fullerton def. Troy, 13-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-14

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Beckman def. Portola, 20-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-22

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE

Yorba Linda def. Foothill, 25-19, 25-17, 25-23

Canyon def. El Modena, 25-17, 25-14, 25-17

NORTH HILLS LEAGUE

El Dorado def. Esperanza, 3-0

Villa Park def. Brea Olinda, 25-17, 25-20, 26-24

SAN JOAQUIN LEAGUE

San Gabriel Academy def. Pacifica Christian, 25-17, 21-25, 25-15, 25-15

Fairmont Prep def. Western Christian, 25-20, 25-11, 23-25, 25-21

EXPRESS LEAGUE

Orangewood Academy def. Vista Meridian, 25-11, 25-21, 25-14

Tarbut V’Torah def. Acaciawood Academy, 3-1

605 LEAGUE

Oxford Academy def. Artesia, 25-15, 25-19, 25-15

ACADEMY LEAGUE

Samueli Academy def. Calvary Chapel/Downey, 25-14, 25-16, 25-16

NONLEAGUE

Newport Harbor def. San Clemente, 25-16, 25-11, 25-17

University def. Northwood, 3-1

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

SOUTH COAST LEAGUE

Tesoro 5, Dana Hills 0

SURF LEAGUE

Edison 5, Newport Harbor 0

TRINITY LEAGUE

Orange Lutheran 5, Rosary 1

JSerra 5, Santa Margarita 0

SAN JOAQUIN LEAGUE

Sage Hill 2, Orangewood Academy 1

BOYS SWIMMING

NONLEAGUE

Los Alamitos 115, Laguna Beach 29

GIRLS SWIMMING

NONLEAGUE

Los Alamitos 109, Laguna Beach 37

​ Orange County Register 

How soon could China send more giant pandas 🐼 to the San Diego Zoo?

• February 23, 2024

By JULIE WATSON

SAN DIEGO — China plans to send a new pair of giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo, renewing its longstanding gesture of friendship toward the United States after recalling nearly all the iconic bears on loan to U.S. zoos as relations soured between the two nations.

The China Wildlife Conservation Association has signed cooperation agreements with zoos in San Diego and Madrid, the Spanish capital, and is in talks with zoos in Washington, D.C. and Vienna, the Chinese organization said, describing the deals as a new round of collaboration on panda conservation.

San Diego Zoo officials told The Associated Press that if all permits and other requirements are approved, two bears, a male and a female, are expected to arrive as early as the end of summer, about five years after the zoo sent its last pandas back to China.

“We’re very excited and hopeful,” said Megan Owen of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and vice president of Wildlife Conservation Science. “They’ve expressed a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to re-initiate panda cooperation starting with the San Diego Zoo.”

Zoos typically pay a fee of $1 million a year for two pandas, with the money earmarked for China’s conservation efforts, according to a 2022 report by America’s Congressional Research Service.

In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping raised hopes his country would start sending pandas to the U.S. again after he and President Joe Biden convened in the Bay Area for their first face-to-face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions.

China is considering a pair that includes a female descendent of Bai Yun and Gao Gao, two of the zoo’s former residents, said Owen, an expert in panda behavior who has worked in San Diego and China.

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Bai Yun, who was born in captivity in China, lived at the zoo for more than 20 years and gave birth to six cubs there. She and her son were the zoo’s last pandas and returned to China in 2019.

Gao Gao was born in the wild in China and lived at the San Diego Zoo from 2003 to 2018 before being sent back.

Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda species from extinction, increasing its population from fewer than 1,000 at one time to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity.

The black-and-white bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. China later loaned pandas to zoos to help breed cubs and boost the population.

The U.S., Spain and Austria were among the first countries to work with China on panda conservation, and 28 pandas have been born in those countries, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said. The latest collaboration will include research on disease prevention and habitat protection, and contribute to China’s national panda park construction, it said.

“We look forward to further expanding the research outcomes on the conservation of endangered species such as giant pandas, and promoting mutual understanding and friendship among peoples through the new round of international cooperation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.

Demands for the return of giant pandas, known as China’s “national treasure,” grew among the Chinese public as unproven allegations that U.S. zoos mistreated the pandas flooded Chinese social media.

Fears over the future of so-called panda diplomacy escalated last year when zoos in Memphis, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., returned their pandas to China, leaving only four pandas in the United States, all at the zoo in Atlanta. That loan agreement expires later this year.

Many loan agreements were for 10 years and often were extended well beyond. But negotiations last year to extend the agreements with U.S. zoos or send more pandas did not produce results. China watchers speculated that Beijing was gradually pulling its pandas from Western nations due to deteriorating diplomatic relations with the U.S. and other countries.

Then on Nov. 15, 2023, a week after the National Zoo’s pandas departed for China, Xi spoke at a dinner in downtown San Francisco with American business executives and signaled that more pandas might be sent. He said he learned the San Diego Zoo and people in California “very much look forward to welcoming pandas back.”

“I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas and went to the zoo to see them off,” Xi said.

The San Diego Zoo continued to work with their Chinese counterparts even after it no longer had any pandas.

Owen said China is particularly interested in exchanging information on the zoo’s successful breeding of pandas in captivity. Giant pandas are difficult to breed in part because the female’s reproductive window is extremely narrow, lasting only 48 to 72 hours each year.

Bai Yun’s first cub, Hua Mei, was also the first panda born through artificial insemination to survive into adulthood outside of China, and would go on to produce 12 cubs on her own after she was sent to China.

Bai Yun, meanwhile, remained at the zoo where she gave birth to two more females and three males. With cameras in her den, researchers monitored her, contributing to the understanding of maternal care behavior, Owen said.

“We have a lot of institutional knowledge and capacity from our last cooperative agreement, which we will be able to parlay into this next chapter, as well as training the next generation of panda conservationists,” she said.

Chinese experts would travel with the bears and spend months in San Diego, Owen said.

She said the return of the bears is not only good for San Diego but the giant panda’s recovery as a species.

“We do talk about panda diplomacy all the time,” Owen said. “Diplomacy is a critical part of conservation in any number of contexts. …. If we can’t learn to work together, you know, in sometimes difficult situations or situations that are completely out of the control of conservationists, then we’re not going to succeed.”

Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.

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2024 candidates Haley and Trump never debated each other. Do voters care?

• February 23, 2024

Anna Wilder | (TNS) The State (Columbia, S.C.)

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Donald Trump and Nikki Haley have thrown insults at each other over the last few weeks as the South Carolina Republican primary inches closer.

“Birdbrain,” “incompetent,” “unhinged,” and many more terms were used. Yet, they never got on stage together to debate policy, or strengths and weaknesses as candidates. Do South Carolina voters care?

Those who attended the Haley town hall this week said there should have been a debate. But those at the Trump town hall in Greenville on Tuesday were indifferent.

Leah Veldhoven attended the Fox News town hall Sunday in downtown Columbia where Nikki Haley answered questions, Veldhoven wished she had gotten a chance to see the two debate because it would have pulled Haley into the light more than she has been, she said.

“Even though she’s all over the news quite a bit, I still feel like there’s lots of people that don’t know what she’s all about, and what she truly wants to do for the country,” Veldhoven said.

Amery Davis, who also attended the Haley town hall, said Trump needed to debate Haley, and he needed to do it “now.”

“He could say what he wants to say, he’s not able, he can’t keep up with her. He couldn’t keep up with her when she was an ambassador. She would always try and clean up his mess.”

In late January at a rally in South Carolina, Haley referenced Trump saying he would score higher than her on a mental competency test. “Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t. But what I said was ‘OK, if that’s the case, then get on a debate stage and let’s go. Bring it Donald, show me what you got,” she told the crowd.

Jackson Gosnell, a University of South Carolina student studying broadcast journalism, said he thought a debate allows voters a “better opportunity of who to choose.”

“A lot of people could argue that it’s not going to change anyone’s mind. But maybe it would. I mean, we haven’t seen it yet. We see a town hall with each of them, but not going head-to-head, and I think that’d be pretty important.”

In 2020, the incumbent Trump stated he would not debate any primary challenger. His competitors debated each other without him.

In 2016, 12 debates and nine forums were held for candidates of the Republican party. At a March 3 debate, Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio went in on each other, but mostly on Trump. From his stance on immigration to Trump university, the debate became heated at times when candidates went after Trump on what they felt were changing opinions.

The first GOP debate of 2016 on Aug. 6, 2015. CNN reported that while the nine other contenders made “noticeable blunders,” Trump stole the show. Trump was called out for his language towards women, his flipping stance on abortion and even immigration policies. But he continued to answer with ease, CNN stated. When asked specifically about his flip on his abortion stance, he said “I’ve evolved.”

Gosnell said more people may be more likely to watch debates compared to town halls, and that a debate could reach a wider audience.

“There’s the argument that he’s so ahead, why would he even debate? But I do think a debate might be important. Maybe there is some missed opportunity with both of them not on a debate stage together.”

Noah Lindler, a second year University of South Carolina student and VP of College Republicans, also attended the Sunday Haley town hall, and said the College Republicans campus group discussed whether Trump should have joined a debate with Haley.

Lindler said he understood why Trump didn’t debate Haley.

“There was really no need just based on polling numbers and where he stands, however, from a kind of a moral point of view he should have in order to allow voters to have the chance to hear what he says and how he’s able to argue his positions compared to other other candidates,” he said.

Cammie Teems, from Manning, attended the Trump town hall, and said she felt it was helpful for voters, but she did like how debates offered different aspects than a town hall would.

“I think the things that I do like about debate is how the people respond and interact in person.”

Yvonne Julian, county chair for the Greenville Republican party, said personally no, but she did wish it had happened for people who are undecided.

“Some of the answers to questions she’s given, you know, for me would not have had any benefit for him to debate her because my mind was already made up,” Julian said.

During his town hall, Trump mentioned debating other Republican candidates. Host Laura Ingraham asked if he would wish to challenge Joe Biden in a debate. Trump said he would “right now,” because there was an obligation in that case. He said he would do as “many debates as necessary,” against Biden. However, he felt differently on debating Republicans.

“When it came to the Republicans and I was up by 40, 50, 60 points, like being up with her [Haley]. I think a poll just came out I’m at 91 and shes at 7 … you want to be smart, you don’t have to waste your time,” Trump said.

James Edward, a lift operator from Virginia, who drove down for the Trump event, said he did wished he saw Trump debate Haley.

“I feel like if you’re gonna compete against somebody then you should debate,” Edwards said. “There should be a swapping of the minds, so to speak.”

Lelis Welch, from Oklahoma, but was visiting Greenville on vacation and attended the event, said she didn’t necessarily care for Haley to debate Trump. At one point, she wasn’t anti-Nikki, but now she is, she added.

“I’ve heard her say so many negative things. One thing she said ‘he wants me to drop out, I do not do what Donald Trump says, I didn’t even do that when I worked for him,’ I thought ‘what?’ You worked for the President and you didn’t follow his instructions? So no, no. I don’t even like to hear her speak to tell you the truth.”

_______

©2024 The State. Visit at thestate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Biden stakes reputation on blue-collar workers. Turns out many are Trump donors

• February 23, 2024

Jennah Haque, Madeline Campbell and Bill Allison | Bloomberg News (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden has attempted to brand himself as the most pro-labor president in U.S. history. Workers who donate to the leading presidential candidates beg to differ.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump is winning financial support from grassroots campaign contributors who work for highly unionized workplaces, including American Airlines Group Inc. and United Parcel Service Inc., according to Federal Election Commission data from the second half of 2023 analyzed by Bloomberg News.

He also has far more donors than Biden from people who report working for largely blue-collar workplaces, such as Walmart Inc. and Federal Express Corp.

That’s a symbolic blow to Biden, who has staked his political identity as an advocate for blue-collar workers and the organized labor movement. It also could be a warning sign for his 2024 reelection bid that relies on winning heavily unionized states — Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Biden has notched labor wins in recent weeks, including an endorsement from the United Auto Workers, but his campaign lags Trump in contributions from donors with oft-unionized job titles including mechanics and truckers, according to campaign finance records. Biden does better among workers who self-identify as professionals — including professors, scientists and psychologists — who prefer him at rates of three-to-one or more over Trump.

Political donors represent a small fraction of voters, but those who give are some of the most motivated supporters. The Federal Election Commission doesn’t ask contributors whether they are in a union, but collects data on employers and job titles, which provides a proxy for political support among union members. In an election that will likely feature two unpopular candidates, enthusiasm and turnout in key swing states will help make the difference.

Trump, who has yet to earn the endorsement of a major union, alluded to the divide between union leadership and membership after a meeting with the Teamsters in Washington last month, saying he wasn’t sure if the “top people” in the union will back him, but said he has “tremendous support” among the group members.

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Biden has spent much of his time recently courting the union vote: going to a UAW picket line in Michigan, visiting union halls and embedding pro-union requirements in incentives for clean energy policies. It’s possible Biden is starting to see that pay off. Donors who report being employed by General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. — two companies that have been the subject of much of the president’s attention following last fall’s auto strike — are nearly evenly split between the two likely nominees.

Biden did beat Trump on donations from workers at some unionized businesses, including Kaiser Permanente and Boeing Co.

Not every donor lists their employer or occupation, so contributions where these values weren’t reported were excluded from this analysis of companies and professions.

Biden and Trump tout their legions of working class donors who give small amounts, but over the second half of 2023, both relied heavily on billionaires and other wealthy donors who can write much bigger checks.

Two-thirds of Biden’s fundraising haul over the last six months of 2023 — some $119 million — came from wealthy donors who gave to Biden Victory Fund, the Democratic National Committee and Future Forward PAC, his allied super political action committee. Billionaires Haim Saban and hedge fund manager George Soros, and entertainment mogul Casey Wasserman are among the major donors to Biden’s reelection effort.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley got a slightly bigger chunk (68%) of her money from large donations, including Citadel’s Ken Griffin, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum and Paul Singer of Elliot Investment Management.

Even Trump drew 46% from mega-donors, including construction billionaire Diane Hendricks and Crownquest’s Timothy Dunn, who each gave $5 million. Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus gave $1 million. Trump drew 42% of his donations over the same period from contributors who gave $200 or less.

Biden slightly edges out his Republican rival in the number of unique donors who contributed to him in the final six months of last year, but Trump donors give to his campaign more frequently and in smaller amounts. Donors to the former president who contributed less than $200 at a time gave on four different occasions on average. Biden’s small-dollar donors contributed almost two-and-a-half times on average.

METHODOLOGY

Data includes donations received from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2023 and reported to the Federal Election Commission by the following committees: ActBlue, Biden For President, Biden Victory Fund, Biden Action Fund, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Grassroots Victory Committee and Future Forward PAC for donations to or supporting President Joe Biden; Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Make America Great Again PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., Save America, Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee for former President Donald Trump; Nikki Haley for President, Stand for America PAC, Team Stand for America and the SFA Fund Inc. for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Unique donors were identified by distinct combinations of first and last names, state and zip code. Company names and job titles were standardized where possible. For example, donors who list their employer as UPS and United Parcel Service were combined, as were lawyers and attorneys. Although employer and job title information is solicited from all donors, approximately 40% list these details.

Contribution size categories are based on donation values rather than the total amount contributed by a unique donor. Because campaigns divide contributions greater than $3,300 into separate primary and general-election transactions, Bloomberg News’ analysis also counts those donations made directly to campaigns in the $200-$3,300 category. Some contributions are not reported to the FEC.

Donations under $200 made by mail or through online services other than ActBlue or WinRed don’t have to be disclosed. Totals in this analysis are based on contribution microdata published by the FEC and not the topline numbers reported to the FEC by each committee.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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