LA Metro and its delusions of a post-Olympic transportation paradise

• September 15, 2026

In 2018, the Miss America Pageant eliminated its swimsuit competition, a hallmark of the pageant for almost 100 years. It also made a change to the evening wear event. Instead of walking and smiling, the contestants would be judged on how well they announced their “social impact initiative.” That’s how the new CEO of the pageant, Regina Hopper, explained it at the time.

In 2004, the Miss America Pageant lost its broadcast television contract. ABC cited declining ratings.

The moral of the story is, “Be who you are.” Miss America was a beauty contest. Pretending that IQ was one of the measurements didn’t work out at all.

That brings us to Metro and its delusions of a post-Olympic transportation paradise.

“As we approach the 2028 Games, Metro is focused on key transportation projects, programs and experiences that promise to be transformational for the region,” the transit agency exults on its website.

According to Metro, the Olympic Games will result in “long-lasting benefits and more equitable mobility” and “climate justice.” The plan is to make Los Angeles “a leading example of how to encourage long-lasting mode shift to sustainable travel modes.”

Yes, it’s another attempt to force L.A. residents into “shifting away from passenger cars.”

Metro is a transit agency. It should just get the buses and trains to run efficiently, not social-engineer a “permanent mode shift.”

It was bad enough that L.A.’s idiotic former leaders put city taxpayers on the hook to pay for unlimited Olympic cost overruns. Now, L.A.’s idiotic current leaders think the Olympics are an opportunity to make the roads car-unfriendly and perhaps leave them that way.

Metro calls this the “Mobility Concept Plan.” The agency says its aim is “providing legacy and permanent benefits after the 2028 Games to encourage shift to sustainable transportation modes.”

Fortunately for anyone who drives, Metro is 1,700 buses and $2 billion short of realizing its dream.

A handful of California congressional representatives recently joined Metro’s effort to convince the federal government to hand over another $2 billion for Olympics transportation. Rep. Laura Friedman and others warned that the Games might cause “gridlock” and reputational damage without the extra cash.

It would probably be rude to point out that Los Angeles County taxpayers pay four separate one-half percent sales taxes to fund Metro, a total of 2% of purchase prices. The taxes confiscate about $4 billion per year to pay for a transit network that had higher ridership back in the 1980s when it was just a bus system.

If you think that’s rude, you’ll hate this: Metro’s own financial reports show that in fiscal year 2010, farebox revenue covered only 25% of operating costs. Now it’s worse. In fiscal year 2025, fares covered just 6.5% of the cost of running the transit system.

The dismal decline reflects both higher operating costs and lower farebox revenue. But rather than cut costs or improve the transit experience to meet the needs of paying customers, Metro has plans to use the 2028 Olympics as a test run for “shifting away from passenger cars.”

“With bus-only lanes, transit priority and micromobility options, public transit will be more time‑competitive than driving a passenger car on a wider range of trips,” Metro asserts.

Public transit is more “time-competitive” than driving the way sand is more wet than water. That is, unless the government closes streets and freeway lanes to passenger vehicles and makes driving virtually impossible.

That’s the plan for the Olympics. The “Games Route Network” will create permit-only express lanes for athletes, VIPs and anyone connected to the Games by closing existing traffic lanes to everybody else. The Los Angeles Times reported on a Caltrans presentation to the Southern California Association of Governments that showed proposed plans for closing lanes to the public on portions of the 5, 91, 405, 105, 110, 101, 10, 1, 2, 47, 134, 164, 55, 57, and 73. Even some city streets will be closed to non-credentialed vehicles.

“This is our chance to reverse generations of inequitable development,” Metro declares on its 2028 Games website. 

Whether replacing swimsuits with seminars or transportation with ideology, refusing to see reality tends to lead to a train wreck.

Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register 

A fourth measles death is reported in Pennsylvania

• September 15, 2026

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Pennsylvania officials have reported a fourth measles-associated death.

The latest death involved an 18-year-old resident of Mifflin County, in the center of the state, the county coroner’s office said in a Facebook post. The cause was acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a rare and severe neurological complication of measles, it said.

On Saturday, a 40-year-old woman from Jefferson County, a rural area in western Pennsylvania, died of measles complications. And last month, two measles-infected infants died in Lancaster County, in the southeastern part of the state.

None of the four were vaccinated, according to the state health department. The infants were too young for vaccinations, according to current recommendations.

The U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles since 1991 and has seen seven reported measles-associated deaths in the last two years — more than the combined total of reported deaths over the previous three decades.

Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak continues to grow, with nearly 700 illnesses reported so far this year across 38 counties, including about 100 cases in the last seven days. The measles-associated deaths are the first reported in the state in 35 years, state officials say.

“My thoughts are with the two families who lost loved ones to this highly contagious virus, as Pennsylvania faces the worst measles outbreak in more than three decades,” the state’s health secretary, Dr. Debra Bogen, said in a statement Tuesday, referring to the two most recent deaths — those of the adults.

“We remain committed to working with our partners across Pennsylvania to stem this outbreak and prevent more deaths. That means ensuring people have the facts about measles and access to the MMR vaccine, which kept measles outbreaks at bay for decades.”

The nation eliminated the domestic spread of measles in 2000 by maintaining high vaccination rates, but they have fallen in recent years to below the 95% coverage needed to prevent outbreaks. Meanwhile, measles infections have been surging in recent years.

In November, international health officials will meet to determine if the U.S. and Mexico have lost their measles-free status.

The problem has been years in the making, as fewer kids get routine vaccines due to parental waivers, health care access issues and rampant disinformation. More recently, Trump administration health officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have questioned and sown doubt about the established safety of vaccines at an unprecedented level while also defunding local efforts to improve vaccination rates.

The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Mistrial declared in New Hampshire youth detention center sex abuse case

• September 15, 2026

By HOLLY RAMER

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the case of a former youth detention center worker charged with repeatedly raping a teenage boy after his accuser briefly testified about allegations involving other staff.

Jeffrey Buskey, 60, of Litchfield, is charged with 21 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault against David Meehan, who was 14 when he arrived at the Youth Development Center in Manchester in 1995.

Testifying for a second day Tuesday, Meehan said Buskey wasn’t the only staffer who sexually assaulted him. That prompted Buskey’s defense to ask for a mistrial, which Judge Will Delker denied. He instead instructed jurors to disregard that testimony, but when it happened again a few minutes later, Delker said he had no choice but to declare a mistrial.

“Jury trials are very particular in regards to the type of evidence that is admissible. In this instance, the judge found that some of the evidence that came in should not be heard by the jury,” said the prosecutor, Associate Attorney General Thomas Velardi. “When the judge believes such evidence does come in, and there is not an adequate way to instruct the jury to disregard it, the judge believes he must declare a mistrial.”

Velardi said the state will consider its options, including retrying the case. Meehan, Buskey and the defense attorneys left the court without comment. A phone message was left for the attorneys.

In addition to the allegations involving Meehan, Buskey also faces separate charges involving three other former residents of the state-run facility now known as the Sununu Youth Services Center. His arrest along with another former staffer in 2019 thrust one of the nation’s largest youth detention scandals into public view.

Since then, the state has conducted an unprecedented criminal investigation and made nine additional arrests. It also established a settlement fund to compensate victims and began defending itself against more than 1,100 lawsuits alleging physical, sexual or emotional abuse spanning six decades.

Meehan’s suit was the first to be filed and the only one to go to trial so far. A jury awarded him $38 million in May 2024, though that verdict remains in dispute as the state seeks to reduce the amount to $475,000. The Associated Press generally does not identify those who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly, as Meehan has done.

As testimony got underway Monday, prosecutor Audriana Mekula asked Meehan, “What is YDC to you?”

“Hell,” he answered.

​ Orange County Register 

American incomes finally top pre-pandemic levels, fighting against inflation all the way

• September 15, 2026

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. household income finally topped pre- pandemic levels last year, a stark sign of how the past five years of rising prices have limited Americans’ earnings and purchasing power.

Median U.S. household income rose a healthy 2.6% in 2025 from the previous year, after adjusting for inflation, to $87,460, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. That is a record high, topping 2019 household income of $85,320. The median is the level at which half of households had higher earnings and half had less.

The figures show that even after taking into account higher prices, the typical household now earns more than it did before the pandemic. But it’s a small gain over a six-year period, which helps explain the generally sour mood Americans have had about the economy since COVID-19 struck in early 2020. Concerns about affordability have taken a leading role in the fast-approaching midterm elections.

Household income has risen 2.5% since 2019, according to Census data. Yet over the previous six-year period, from 2013 to 2019, a period of very low inflation and declining unemployment, it jumped 19%.

The Census report also showed that women’s paychecks rose 3.2% last year, while men’s declined slightly. The solid gain for women narrowed the gender wage gap, though it remains large, with women earning nearly 84 cents for every dollar earned by men, up from less than 81 cents in 2024.

The Census report also showed that income inequality in the U.S. remained high last year, even as Americans at most levels saw their inflation-adjusted incomes grow.

Americans at the top 10% of incomes reported growth of 1.7% last year to $261,300, the report said, while the poorest one-tenth reported a slight decline to just over $20,000. As a result, the top one-tenth earn a bit more than 13 times the poorest households, up from 12.7 times in 2024. The record was 13.5 in 2021.

A household is defined by Census as a family unit or an individual living alone or living with people who aren’t relatives.

The agency includes all sources of cash income, including wages, investment income, and payments from government programs such as Social Security and unemployment insurance. It doesn’t include non-cash benefits, such as food aid — formerly known as food stamps — or Medicaid.

By demographic group, Asians reported the highest median incomes, at $126,300, a 1.6% increase from 2024. White households saw their incomes rise 2.9% to $96,710 while Hispanic households reported a 1.1% rise to $73,260. Black households saw the biggest increase, of 4.8%, to $59,980.

​ Orange County Register 

Freebie of the week: Enjoy a free public star party at Griffith Observatory

• September 15, 2026

Head up to the Griffith Observatory on Saturday, Sept. 19 for its monthly star party, where experts set up dozens of telescopes and help folks look through them into the heavens.

This month’s party is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. on the observatory lawn. These are popular, so get there early and note you will have to wait in line for your chance to look through a telescope, assisted by a stargazer.

The beautiful and historic observatory building is also free to visit, so you can include that in your plans. It’s well worth seeing on its own. As you might guess, the view from the top is amazing. (There is a small fee to attend planetarium shows, but it’s worth it.) This is in Griffith Park, 2800 East Observatory Road, Los Angeles.

Parking can be difficult and tricky. Read the observatory’s page here: griffithobservatory.lacity.gov/visit/getting-here/

Learn more: griffithobservatory.lacity.gov/event/public-star-party-september-19-2026/

​ Orange County Register 

Judge blocks Kennedy Center board from putting Trump’s name on the building or grounds in any way

• September 15, 2026

By ASHRAF KHALIL and STEVEN SLOAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center on Tuesday from returning President Donald Trump ’s name to the iconic performing arts venue in a move meant to recognize his renovation efforts, saying it would violate an earlier ruling that his name was illegally added to the building.

Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that, “Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.”

The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center voted in August to inscribe the president’s name on the venue’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”

If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading: “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would have also been renamed in Trump’s honor, as part of the board’s vote.

Cooper ruled in May that only Congress can approve changes to the Kennedy Center’s name. In an emergency hearing on the matter in August, the administration argued it was no longer attempting to rename the building and that the vote was simply a recognition of Trump’s effort to secure money for much needed renovations.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose wife sits on the Kennedy Center board, compared the move to the way hospitals and colleges recognize high dollar donors.

But a lawyer for U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, argued the changes amounted to “deja vu” and violated Cooper’s earlier ruling.

“The law is extremely clear: The John F. Kennedy Center is named for President Kennedy — and no one else,” Beatty said in a statement Tuesday. “But President Trump is holding the Kennedy Center hostage unless he can put his name on this sacred memorial. The Court just rejected this proposal for the second time. This unlawfulness is as breathtaking as it is wrong, and it needs to stop.”

​ Orange County Register 

US military says it destroyed 2 small Iranian boats trying to steal a drone

• September 15, 2026

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Tuesday that it opened fire and destroyed two small Iranian boats this week trying to steal a drone ship in the waters off Iran.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesman said that “Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded.”

Iranian state media reported Monday that a pair of fishing boats came under attack in Hormozgan province on Iran’s southern coast and that several fishermen were reported missing, citing a provincial official.

It is the latest volley of fire in the more than six-month-old war as both sides seek control over the Strait of Hormuz, where the U.S. has succeeded in recent weeks in loosening Iran’s grip over the critical energy shipping corridor. But the impact of the unpopular conflict has driven up the cost of oil and gasoline prices, posing political problems for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.

Hawkins said Tuesday that the drone involved is a “Saildrone” — a small, roughly 25-foot craft — that can operate by itself. U.S. Central Command has been using them in the region for several years to surveil maritime traffic.

Hawkins said all of the command’s surface drones “remain fully accounted for.” The military has long asserted that the technology on the Saildrones is commercially available and not sensitive in nature.

The latest drone incident, which was reported earlier by Axios, comes a week after Iranian state television reported that the country’s navy captured one of the U.S. military’s underwater drones at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

Hawkins said then that an Anduril Dive-LD drone had malfunctioned while it was surveying the waters in the region and that the U.S. military no longer had possession of it. He stressed that the drone was defective and noted that it was also an “older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment.”

​ Orange County Register 

Where to find Oktoberfest street fairs and neighborhood park celebrations

• September 15, 2026

From imported beers to weiner races, communities and social groupsflair throughout Southern California offer beer, fun and food at Oktoberfest celebrations.

Among them are a new celebration this weekend at the LA Zoo and a street fair in Westwood Village next month.

Most events take place in late September and early October and last one day or a weekend. Some multiweek events are already in full swing.

These are the biggest Oktoberfest 2026 parties in Southern California

Here are some events that have been announced on websites or social media.

King Ludwig’s Oktoberfest

Noble Creek Regional Park, 390 Oak Valley Parkway, Beaumont; bcvparks.com/36th-annual-king-ludwig-s-oktoberfest; 5-11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25; 1-11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26; 1-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.

Festivities will include a biergarten, live music, wiener dog races and kids’ competitions.

Montrose Oktoberfest 

2200-2400 Honolulu Ave., Montrose; montrosechamberofcommerce.org; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3.

This block party features German food and beer, live music and dancing in a family atmosphere. Admission is free. Customers purchase tickets to use on food, carnival rides and games.

Night Market Oktoberfest, Mission Viejo

25282 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo; eventbrite.com; 5-9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19.

This event includes a beer garden and kids’ area, along with a beer stein contest.  Admission is free. Reservations are available at Eventbrite.

Oktoberfest at Westwood Village

Broxton Plaza, Westwood Village, Los Angeles; eventbrite.com; 1-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10.

Billed as a first-ever event, this festival will take place between Weyburn and Kinross avenues near UCLA. Organizers promise German-inspired food, music and fun. Limited $15 parking is available in a garage adjoining the event.

Redlands Oktoberfest

Sylvan Park, 601 University St., Redlands; redlandsoktoberfest.com; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4.

This two-day event will feature beers from four German breweries, food concessions, polka bands, crafts and vendors and a kids’ village.

Admission is $10 plus fees for adults or $15 for both days.

Simi Valley Oktoberfest

Lemon Park, 3700 Avenida Simi, Simi Valley; simioktoberfest.com; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 3.

This event is put on by the Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise, which promises an epic Bavarian playground with German beer, food, music and costumes. This is a 21-and-older event.

Tickets start at $30 for general admission; 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Zootoberfest

LA Zoo, 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles; lazoo.org ; 10 a.m-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20

This family-friendly event will include food, beer, root beer floats, live bands, a braid bar, a giant ribbon tunnel, seasonal decorations and photo opportunities.

It is free with zoo admission or membership. General admission is $27 for adults, $22 for children ages 2-12.

​ Orange County Register