‘Scam alert’ issued by Delaware, targeting California addiction treatment

• June 12, 2024

Despite being fraud central, we’ve never seen California do anything like this. Wow, Delaware.

“SCAM ALERT!” screams Delaware’s social media post. “The Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health’s Overdose Response Center is warning of a scam in our area involving individuals claiming to be part of residential rehabilitation programs in California, such as Santa Monica Rehab of California.

“The claims of residential treatment services and ongoing treatment in California are likely FALSE CLAIMS,” Delaware’s Department of Health and Social Services continues. “Beware of body brokering, cash offers, kickbacks, and insurance fraud. For addiction treatment resources you can trust, visit the Treatment Connection website at www.treatmentconnection.com …. The facilities on this site have been reviewed and validated by the state government where they are located.”

Santa Monica Rehab is linked to Nate Young, according to business documents filed with the California Secretary of State.

Young, it turns out, was sued by Beverly Hills in 2020 for operating an “illegal drug rehab facility” that was “a haven for drug abuse and other criminal conduct,” according to the city’s suit. One resident described it as “a place to crash and smoke fentanyl,” where Young provided drugs such as black tar heroin and methamphetamines to residents at “significantly reduced prices,” the suit said.

Young was also sued by insurance giant Aetna last year for being the ringleader in a $40 million fraud scheme targeting “vulnerable Aetna members who suffer from alcohol and/or substance dependency issues as part of a concerted effort to profit at their expense,” according to that lawsuit. Young and his alleged cohorts “used the patients for health benefit payments under the lie of helping them, while doing the exact opposite.”

Young’s attorneys called that “fiction” and “inflammatory speculation” so Aetna can avoid paying millions in outstanding claims. Aetna’s “outrageous allegations” are causing immense damage to business and should be thrown out, they argue in court documents.

While Santa Monica Rehab LLC is not listed as a state-licensed addiction treatment facility in California, Santa Monica Detox LLC is, according to data from the California Department of Health Care Services. Young has been listed as manager and/or CEO for both, according to documents filed with the Secretary of State.

We asked DHCS about Delaware issuing scam alerts for California facilities. Officials are working on a response, they told us, but didn’t make our deadline.

Marc Williams, one of Young’s attorneys, said Delaware’s announcement “has to be viewed in the context of ongoing litigation brought by Aetna against affiliates of Santa Monica Rehab and Santa Monica Detox. We have recently filed a detailed Motion to Dismiss in that matter and it contains a number of important points that demonstrate major flaws with Aetna’s lawsuit.

“My client has been denigrated for too long and greatly looks forward to his day in court and having the opportunity to restore his reputation by showing how he has helped more than a thousand individuals get clean, sober and back into the workforce,” Williams said by email.

Aetna’s battle

First, the cast of characters in the Aetna suit:

In addition to Young, also known as Pablo Lopez, Aetna alleges the scheme included his brother, David Young, also known as Sancho Lopez; Jose Ricardo Toscano Maldonado; Ali Beheshti; Marc Adler; Ani Mirzayan; Zealie LLC; Helping Hands Rehabilitation Clinic, Inc.; Joser Forever LLC; Get Real Recovery LLC; Revive Premier Treatment Center, Inc.; Healing Path Detox LLC; Ocean Valley Behavioral Health, LLC; Rodeo Recovery LLC; Sunset Rehab LLC; Natural Rest House, Inc.; 55 Silver, LLC; and 9 Silver, LLC, according to the suit.

Aetna maintains that they “lured patients into their programs by offering them kickbacks in the form of … free or low-cost living arrangements in ‘sober living homes’ located in highly desirable locations throughout California. In reality, the sober living homes were little more than drug dens, used to ensure patients remained in Defendants’ treatment ‘programs’ for as long as possible,” the suit says.

To continue growing, they hired some patients as “body brokers” to find other addicts to cycle through their facilities; enrolled people in good insurance plans in order to ensure good insurance reimbursements; created multiple entities with multiple tax identification numbers to avoid fraud detection, the suit said. It accused Young of trolling Alcoholics Anonymous and/or other drug counseling meetings for “recently sober individuals,” who were offered jobs or housing in his “‘sober living homes’ that were rife with drugs if they would allow him to use their insurance companies to bill for treatment,”  the suit said. “Such temptations for recently sober individuals are extremely dangerous and naturally can result in relapse.”

In the rare instance where a patient progressed through treatment while still retaining some benefits, Young et al “encouraged ‘relapse’ so a patient’s programs and benefit payments could start anew,” the suit said.

Aetna seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees “and any other relief the Court deems appropriate” for alleged fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, among other things.

‘Fiction’

Many motions to dismiss Aetna’s case have been filed by the defendants. They objected to its original filing as woefully lacking in specifics. Aetna filed an amended complaint. They maintain it’s still not enough.

“Lawsuits that seek to forward a fiction must fail,” said Young’s motion to dismiss. “If Aetna had more facts, it would have alleged them … But Aetna did no such thing. Rather, Aetna has only attempted to spin a contrived theory. That theory – that the Young Defendants have been operating a fraudulent scheme, as opposed to legitimate addiction and substance use disorder treatment facilities – is based on inflammatory speculation and a desire to avoid paying the Young Defendants millions of dollars in pending, unpaid insurance claims.”

Aetna’s core accusations are based on allegations from totally unrelated court cases, they argue. The Beverly Hills suit was a civil nuisance case involving “only one of the facilities,” and it settled before the facility served Aetna members. Criminal body brokering cases happened before the defendants came on the scene, and before Aetna members were served, they argue.

“There are no facts because the Young Defendants do not tolerate such conduct,” the motion says.

Aetna counters that the granular detail Young seeks does not come in a complaint; it comes later, through the process of discovery. A complaint needs only to give fair notice of what the claim is and the grounds upon which it rests, a standard “easily met here,” it told the court. 

Young’s arguments are echoed in separate dismissal motions filed by other defendants.

“Aetna’s suit is devoid of allegations directed at Revive, instead incorrectly lumping all defendants together,” its motion said. “Aetna’s allegations against Revive Defendants are entirely void of the who, what, when, where, and how required for fraud-based claims. Aetna’s efforts to evade its pleading obligations through misstatements and mischaracterizations are unavailing and unpersuasive.”

Zealie is just a third-party billing vendor, its motion argued, yet, “Aetna smears Mr. Beheshti with criminality based on allegations in an unrelated indictment in an unrelated case, in which he is not named, and that involves an unrelated entity and someone else’s purported criminality.”

No ruling on motions to dismiss yet; these things tend to take a while. We’ll keep an eye on it. We suspect Delaware will, too.

California? Hello?

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Frumpy Mom: What do you do with all your stuff?

• June 12, 2024

Many moons ago, when I was still young and considered myself a hipster, I went to a party in the Hollywood Hills. This party was thrown by a good looking young architect who also considered himself hip, although in his case it was probably true.

In my mind, I started calling him Mr. Cutie Pie.

I only knew this guy slightly, so I was stunned when I walked into his ultra-modern house and looked around. His living room held a couple of stylish but uncomfortable looking chairs and sofa, and something glass I assumed was a coffee table.

“That’s not weird,” you’re saying to yourself. But wait. Let me explain. That was all. The entire contents of the room, except for some smooth almost invisible cupboards against the walls.

I walked over to Mr. Cutie Pie and asked him, “Where’s your stuff?”

I mean, everyone cleans up before they have a party, right? To create the illusion that they’re not nearly as messy as they actually are. I’ve been known to throw things into the oven, if I weren’t planning to use it. One reason I still peer inside to this day before I make a pizza, just in case there’s a folded sweater in there.

Nowadays, on the exceedingly rare occasions I entertain anyone, I’ve just started to toss tablecloths over anything that I’m too lazy to declutter, like my desk.

Anyway, back to the party. Mr. Cutie Pie looked at me and said, “What do you mean, my stuff?”

“Oh, c’mon,” I taunted him. I could get away with these borderline rude comments to men back then because I wore exceedingly low-cut blouses. “Where are your shelves of unread books? Your 30-foot-high pile of New Yorker magazines you intend to read someday?

“Where is your television? Where is your television remote? Where’s your pen and note pad for when you finally get that call you’re expecting? Where’s your pile of unread mail? Where are the shoes you kicked off when you came home? Couch pillows? Snuggly velour throw blanket? Cases of stuff you bought at Costco? Dog leash? Dog?

I could have kept going for a few more hours, but he interrupted me. “I don’t have any stuff,” he said.

Now, I really just could not wrap my head around this. It seemed so blatantly untrue. Everyone has stuff, unless maybe if you’re in prison, but I think even prisoners are allowed to have a few things, right? Maybe there’s no stuff on the International Space Station. I think the guy was flat-out lying. Don’t you?

I really wanted everyone to leave at this point, so I could dig through those almost invisible smooth cupboards and find all his stuff. (This is the type of curiosity that turns you into an underpaid journalist for life, by the way. Avoid if possible.)

Sadly, though, the guy who brought me to the party came over and he wanted to leave, so I never got to find out.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been working gradually to declutter my house, which was always packed with stuff. And it only got worse after I got cancer, because God forbid either of my young adult children would open that box from Sam’s Club in the foyer and put the contents away.  Or sort the mail and toss out the junk ads. No one in this house wants to go to a steak dinner hosted by Forest Lawn.

The problem with decluttering is that the moment you get rid of something, you feel great, but then later there’s always that realization that you shouldn’t have let it go.

When I took my fondue pot still in the box to the Salvation Army, did I know that fondue was once again going to become a thing? Of course not. It didn’t become a thing until the week after I donated it.

Now, it is not my intention to encourage all you hoarders out there. No. There is no reason to keep that stack of newspapers you’ve had since 1993.

Ooops, bad example, because I actually do have a stack like that. In my defense, they’re from newspapers where I worked containing my own front page and travel stories that maybe someday after I’m gone my kids might want to look at and keep. I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.

Then, there’s the pasta rolling machine I bought decades ago, lost in the fantasy world where I was going to make my own pasta. (Tip: No, you won’t.) So, eventually, it finally went to charity.

The next day, I read an article about how you could use a pasta roller to roll out your polymer clay for craft projects. Which I was doing at the time. Um, yeah. That was a good move.

At this exact moment, I’m sitting at a cheap IKEA desk (I know that’s redundant) in a corner of my dining room, writing this on my laptop computer. This is my “office.” There’s tons of clutter here too.

Because, guess what? I have stuff. And so do you. And so does Mr. Cutie Pie, where ever he is today. Especially if he had kids. And that’s OK.

Related links

Frumpy Mom: This is a real trashy column
Letting go of my junky ways
Frumpy Mom: Thanks, kids, for pointing out my faults
Frumpy Mom: It’s time for Anti-Procrastination Day
Frumpy Mom: Costco is forcing me to get another house

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: Dodgers are rolling again, but it’s all about October

• June 12, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Last weekend’s series at Yankee Stadium featured a playoff atmosphere, and the Dodgers responded with playoff intensity and won two out of three from the team with baseball’s best record.

And I’m sure, Dodger fans, that plenty of you watched that series and asked yourselves, “Where was that the last couple of Octobers?”

That is the irritant among the fan base, and that discomfort will remain until it’s eradicated by a full-season championship. And so Manager Dave Roberts was asked Tuesday if those type of performances – and, not incidentally, that type of mental edge – could be sustainable beyond one weekend in the Bronx.

“You know, I think you can,” Roberts said. “But it’s just not going to show every night. Baseball is so difficult and so up and down. So the hope is that you can. But looking at however many more games we have, there’s going to be some duds in there. And that’s just inevitable for any ballclub.”

The trick is to keep the duds to a minimum. Even so, I’m not sure that’s the answer the public wants to hear, as truthful and logical as it is. Baseball people understand that it’s a long season, and the object is to handle the grind, put themselves in position for the postseason and reach a crescendo when they get there.

The fan, more often than not, lives day to day. Slumps such as the couple the Dodgers have already faced this year – seven losses in nine games in April, when they averaged just under four runs per game, and a five-game losing streak in late May when they scored 2.2 runs per game – lead to near-panic among those who care, along with shouts of “Do something!”

It’s a baseball truism. When a team isn’t hitting, it looks like it lacks energy.

“I know, it’s like kind of cliché, but it’s ebbs and flows of the season,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said Tuesday night after the Dodgers had pummeled the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers, 15-2, hitting four homers and scoring seven times in the sixth inning.

“We’re going to go through stretches where you just don’t get the hits when you need to. And, the last few weeks we’ve been getting the hits. I’m sure you might ask us (about generating runs) here in a month again. You know, that’s just kind of how it goes throughout the course of the year. But in Pittsburgh (mid-week last week), you could see … just better at-bats, quality at-bats. And for about 10 to 12 days now we’ve been putting together good at-bats, and it kind of carries over to hits.”

It’s possible to limit those dry spells, Roberts said, “by just competing.” He pointed to Gavin Lux, who came into Tuesday night’s game hitting .216 with a .560 OPS but had two hits, a grounder off the first base bag in the fourth after fouling off three two-strike pitches, and an RBI single in the fifth.

“I thought he competed tonight and he got results,” Roberts said. “But there’s some at-bats, I just don’t see our guys competing the way they’re capable of doing. You’re not going to have your ‘A’ swing every night. But you should have compete. And I saw that tonight. And I’ve seen that the last four or five games.”

And so we go back to the last two Octobers. In 2022 San Diego upended the 111-win Dodgers in four games in a National League Division Series. Last year, the Dodgers won 100 games in the regular season and were swept by Arizona, scoring six runs in three games.

(Again: When you have trouble scoring, you look anemic, period.)

You think the rest of baseball doesn’t love it? Consider the reaction of one anonymous player to a survey by The Athletic, on the question of whether the Dodgers’ offseason spending spree was good or bad for the sport.

“That’s what makes baseball beautiful. Those guys spend $1 billion and will still get swept in the first round.”

Ouch.

While today’s Dodgers are again comfortably ahead in the NL West, with a 7½-game lead going into Wednesday’s play, they’re also a flawed team, benefiting from a mediocre division and, to be honest, a National League with only five teams over .500.

The Dodgers’ batting order is top-heavy, the six through nine slots have often been unproductive this season, and Chris Taylor (.102 batting average) and Kiké Hernandez (.207) have been drags on the lineup.

The Mookie Betts shortstop experiment has had its shaky moments, and Freeman saved Betts from another throwing error Tuesday night on Adolis Garcia’s first-inning grounder. Max Muncy’s oblique injury has removed a potent bat, which has had an effect on the bottom of the lineup, and there remains no timetable as to his return.

So for a team with a $308 million Opening Day payroll, they’ve got quite the shopping list leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. Among the targets: Another bat to shore up the bottom of the lineup, one or more bullpen arms and maybe another starting pitcher, and quite possibly a shortstop to allow Betts to at least move to second.

Related Articles

Having players who are impervious to postseason pressure, or at least able to rise above it, always helps. The presence of Corey Seager in the ballpark this week is a reminder. Seager won a World Series MVP trophy with the Dodgers in 2020, and he won another one with the Rangers last October. Letting him walk after the 2021 season, as it turns out, was a huge mistake.

Seager was asked in a pre-game media session if he thought there was such a thing as an “October player,” and he wouldn’t take that bait. “I don’t have a good answer for you on that one,” he said. “Sorry.”

But he suggested his formative years as a player in the Dodger organization helped prepare him to excel in key moments.

“They taught me everything I knew,” he said. “You know, how to win, how to do things the right way. It’s a first-class organization, you know, and (I) tried to bring that to another first-class organization. It’s all those little things that you’ve learned through the years … you know, you’re trying to do less harm than good.”

There are plenty of others in the Dodgers’ clubhouse who are capable of magical October moments. But until they actually perform them, the faithful will remain restless.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Angels lose ugly game to Diamondbacks

• June 12, 2024

PHOENIX — The Angels’ game was pretty ugly already, and then in sixth inning there was one of those moments when it became really difficult to watch.

Catcher Logan O’Hoppe had to leave the game after a foul ball hit him squarely in the cup. O’Hoppe writhed in pain on the field, and a few minutes later gingerly walked to the dugout.

After the Angels’ 9-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night was over, O’Hoppe stood at his locker and was able to smile, thankful that the cup had done its job.

He said it was “by far” the worst he had ever been hit in that area in all his years of catching.

“Better now,” O’Hoppe said. “I’m still in some pain. I was dizzy after I got hit. And that was why I left. That was tough.”

Beyond that disturbing moment, it was a rather nondescript performance for the Angels.

They hoped for the best with left-hander José Suarez making a spot start, and it didn’t go well. Suarez gave up four runs in 2⅔ innings.

Suarez was filling the rotation spot vacated when left-hander Reid Detmers was sent to Triple-A.

Suarez had been a reliable starter in 2021 and 2022, but he’d struggled with injury and ineffectiveness for most of the time since. His previous seven relief outings, in which he’d posted a 2.87 ERA, were somewhat encouraging, though.

The Angels had planned for Suarez to throw around 75 pitches, but he was done after 65. One of the main problems was that Suarez threw a first-pitch strike to just five of the 14 hitters he faced.

“We were just in some counts we had to work out of,” O’Hoppe said. “It wasn’t lack of effort. He was trying to make his pitches. It just didn’t go our way. It was a frustrating night.”

Suarez gave up a pair of triples to Randal Grichuk and Corbin Carroll in the second, and a two-run homer to Grichuk in the third.

“I just made bad pitches,” Suarez said through an interpreter. “I left my pitches over the middle and that was it.”

Right-hander Carson Fulmer took over after Suarez and was charged with two more runs in 2⅔ innings.

Right-hander Ben Joyce entered in the sixth and had a shaky outing. The reliever who throws 103 mph has struggled with his command and control in his brief experiences in the major leagues.

Although Joyce struck out Joc Pederson on three pitches – all at 102 mph or harder – that was his only highlight. Joyce gave up three hits, including two infield hits, and he walked a batter. He was charged with three runs, two of which scored after he was out of the game. Joyce has allowed five runs and eight hits in two innings in his first three games.

“When you are throwing 100 mph to the outside of the plate and they punch it into right field, we’ve got to look at that and see what we’ve got to do,” Manager Ron Washington said.

Related Articles

The Angels pitched poorly on a night when most of the offensive attack came from Taylor Ward, who had a nice night before leaving in the eighth inning with tightness in his lower back. Ward said he came out as a precaution, and he hoped to play on Wednesday.

Ward drove in a run with a double in the third and he hit a solo homer, his 12th of the season. His homer pulled the Angels within 5-3 in the sixth inning.

Ward, who also drew a walk, snapped out of a 2-for-29 slump with his big night.

The Angels could use an extended hot streak from Ward to pump up his trade value leading up to next month’s deadline.

If he’s hitting well, Ward could be one of the Angels’ most attractive trade pieces, because he’s under control for two seasons beyond this one.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers dismantle Rangers with 5 homers in 15-run outburst

• June 12, 2024

LOS ANGELES — It takes a village, and on Tuesday night, the Dodgers assembled in the town square.

With former shortstop Corey Seager in the house, the Dodgers showed they have moved on from their former star shortstop in a 15-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, even if they have yet to advance to a World Series without him.

Mookie Betts, the Dodgers’ third shortstop since Seager departed via free agency after the 2021 season, hit a three-run double. Three left-handed power bats that have arrived since lefty-swinging Seager moved on all hit home runs in a seven-run sixth inning as Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward went deep.

Teoscar Hernandez also hit a home run in the sixth inning as the Dodgers delivered a season high in runs. Hernandez has been the hottest Dodgers hitter of all with four home runs over his last three games and five over his last five contests.

The last time the Dodgers hit four home runs in an inning was Sept. 29, 2021, against the San Diego Padres. Seager hit the last of those four, making Tuesday’s display something of a symbolic outburst.

“You always hear it: hitting is contagious,” said Freeman, who followed Ohtani’s home run with one of his own. “… Shohei hit the homer and you just want to keep it going; start the inning again. You do that and Will (Smith) gets a hit and Teoscar does it again, (then) it’s Jason. Those are the innings that are fun.”

All Seager could do Tuesday was watch as he sat out his fourth consecutive game for the Rangers with a left hamstring strain. He has not given up hope of playing in the series at some point.

The Dodgers did welcome Seager back before the game, allowing fans to shower him with appreciation. The former National League Rookie of the Year emerged from the dugout to wave to the crowd and for a brief moment it seemed like old times.

The cheers only grew louder as the Dodgers’ offense grew stronger. Will Smith had a three-run home run for the Dodgers in the first inning. Betts’ three-run double made it 6-0, and by the time their power explosion was done in the sixth, the statement was complete.

“It’s awesome when you see everybody getting hits again, getting some production and scoring runs,” Hernandez said. “That’s fun. We enjoy it. I enjoy it. We’re having a great time right now.”

The Dodgers entered the game scoring 4.9 runs per game but have averaged 5.8 runs over the past 13 games when they went 9-4.

“I think there’s a little bit better conviction, at-bat quality,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “We ran into some really good arms on the road and navigated our way through that. Tonight, I just thought they won a lot of at-bats, pitches.”

Even with all of the power, Roberts said his favorite moment came in the middle of the game, on a single run in the fifth inning when Gavin Lux delivered an RBI single for a 7-1 advantage.

“He was 0-2, spoiled a pitch and found a way to get on base,” Roberts said.

Lux and Andy Pages each had two hits toward the bottom of the order, while Lux, Pages and Heyward combined to score five runs with three RBIs.

“I’m always optimistic and just what I saw on the back of that road trip, there are a lot of good things that are happening offensively,” Roberts said. “Tonight, it all came together and I can see us sustaining this for a bit.”

After winning two of three games in New York against the Yankees over the weekend amid a playoff-like atmosphere, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked if that type of energy and focus was sustainable.

Related Articles

“I thought (the Yankees series) was potentially a good preview,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ capabilities. “Really good baseball. So I definitely know it was in there. It was fun to see it. This is still gonna be a fun series. We’re playing against the world champs.”

Texas might have a different idea of fun. The Rangers had catcher Andrew Knizner pitching in the seventh inning. Credit to Kinzer, who did not give up a hit while recording five outs.

“These games aren’t fun; no getting around it,” Rangers manager Bruch Bochy said. “We have to put it behind us. This is a tough team and if you get behind, they’ll make you pay for it.”

Lost amid the chaos of all that Dodgers’ offense was a rebound effort from Dodgers veteran left-hander James Paxton (6-1), who gave up one run over six innings with just two hits. The start came six days after Paxton gave up a season-worst seven runs (six earned) to the Pittsburgh Pirates in his only loss of the season so far.

“I mean, the bats are hot and it’s fun to watch all of those homers from the bench,” Paxton said. “It’s great to see.”

​ Orange County Register 

Nneka Ogwumike helps Storm pull away from Sparks

• June 12, 2024

SEATTLE — For more than a decade, the Sparks reveled in Nneka Ogwumike torching an opponent.

Not this time.

Ogwumike scored a season-high 26 points against her former team, Jewell Loyd added 21 points and the Seattle Storm pulled away to beat the Sparks, 95-79, on Tuesday night.

The Storm led 74-69 with 4:08 left then scored on four straight possessions down the stretch to seal it. Skylar Diggins-Smith drove into the lane and passed it out to Ogwumike for a corner 3-pointer to make it 79-70. Diggins-Smith added a 3-pointer on Seattle’s next possession for a 12-point lead, then Ogwumike capped the 8-0 run. The Storm outscored the Sparks 29-18 in the fourth quarter.

Ogwumike, who spent the first 12 years of her WNBA career with the Sparks before leaving as a free agent in the winter, has helped Seattle (8-4) win seven of its past eight games, with the lone loss coming against Minnesota on Sunday.

Diggins-Smith finished with 19 points, five rebounds and six assists for Seattle. Sami Whitcomb made three 3-pointers to finish with nine points. Ezi Magbegor grabbed 13 boards to help the Storm outrebound the Sparks 45-33.

Li Yueru scored a career-high 18 points to go with seven rebounds for the Sparks (4-8), who were kicking off a seven-game road trip. Dearica Hamby had another double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) to go with five assists, and Aari McDonald added 15 points off the bench.

Hamby shot 7 for 16 from the field, but the Sparks shot just 39.1% overall (27 for 69) with rookies Rickea Jackson (1 for 8) and Cameron Brink (2 for 7) and veteran guard Lexie Brown (2 for 9) all struggling through a rough night.

Ogwumike has long been synonymous with the Sparks, the team that selected her No. 1 overall in the 2012 WNBA Draft. The eight-time All-Star helped the Sparks win a WNBA title and was named the league MVP in 2016.

“It’s great to have (her) on our side,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn, a former UCLA and Bishop Montgomery High standout, told the Seattle Times. “She presents a mismatch in that she’s very athletic. If you put a bigger forward on her, she can blow by them. She’s gotten better every single year. She worked on her handle and now her 3-ball is effective. Game planning and scouting her, it’s pick your poison with her.

“She’s always been so consistent and now to have that consistency on our side, it helps a ton. It’s not just the basketball on-court stuff, it’s everything she stands for and who she is off the floor and as a human being and that impacts our team in a great way. Her leadership is second to none and contagious in a positive way. She looks great in green.”

Ogwumike, who shot 11 for 15 from the field to go with eight rebounds and two blocks in 29½ minutes despite first-half foul trouble, downplayed her first outing against her old team.

“It was impactful because of the last game,” she told the Seattle Times. “It just so happened to be L.A. … I show up, I play the game and I respect the game. … That’s just kind of how I am. I’m really good at staying focused. It happened to be a good one.

“I want to play like that every night and my teammates give me that confidence. I just really want us to have that G-mentality.”

Loyd, a five-time All-Star herself, said Ogwumike makes it easier on all of her teammates.

Related Articles

“Seriously, she always comes up with big plays and big stops and big blocks,” Loyd told the Seattle Times. “Whether it’s her presence, coming off ball screens and the (defensive) pressure. I know what she’s capable of doing and this is light work. Her shots are so efficient. She makes it look easy and effortless, but it’s all the preparation that goes into it. She puts a lot of work into her body and her game. To see her go out there on this floor is awesome.”

Quinn believes the best is yet to come.

“When she’s aggressive, she’s efficient,” Quinn told the Seattle Times. “I’m just thrilled about the fact that it’s early and she’s producing like this. We still have so much room to grow, but she’s been awesome with a capital A.”

Ogwumike recorded her 364th straight game with at least one rebound, breaking a tie with former Sparks star Lisa Leslie for the second-longest streak in WNBA history behind former Sparks star Candace Parker with 410. Magbegor had her eighth straight game with at least three blocked shots.

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf sat courtside and chatted with Loyd after the game.

UP NEXT

The Sparks play at Minnesota on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT.

​ Orange County Register 

8 people with suspected ties to the Islamic State arrested in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles

• June 12, 2024

WASHINGTON  — Eight people from Tajikistan with suspected ties to the Islamic State have been arrested in the United States in recent days, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

The arrests took place in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles and the individuals, who entered the U.S. through the southern border, are being held on immigration violations, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The nature of their suspected connections to the Islamic State was not immediately clear Tuesday, but the individuals were being tracked by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF. They were in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which made the arrests while working with the JTTF, pending proceedings to remove them from the country.

The individuals from Tajikistan entered the country last spring and passed through the U.S. government’s screening process without turning up information that would have identified them as potential terrorism-related concerns, said one of the people familiar with the matter.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a statement confirming the immigration-related arrests of “several non-citizens” but did not detail specifics. The agencies noted that the U.S. has been in a “heightened threat environment.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray has said the U.S. is facing accelerating threats from homegrown violent extremists as well as foreign terrorist organizations, particularly in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

He said at one recent congressional hearing that officials were “concerned about the terrorism implications from potential targeting of vulnerabilities at the border.” The Biden administration in August said that it had detected and stopped a network attempting to smuggle people from Uzbekistan into the U.S. and that at least one member of the network had links to a foreign terrorist group.

“The FBI and DHS will continue working around the clock with our partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt potential threats to national security,” the agencies said.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Federal appeals court upholds California’s gun show ban on state property

• June 12, 2024

California’s ban on gun shows on state property is constitutional, a federal appeals court said on Tuesday, June 11.

In Orange County, gun shows — including the Crossroads of the West Gun Show that had been held at the  OC Fair & Event Center since 1996 — were banned in 2022 under a state law authored by Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine. The ban was later expanded to include all state properties, including state-owned fairgrounds.

In October, however, a federal judge blocked those bans, saying California was violating the rights of gun sellers and possible buyers by prohibiting purchases at the fairgrounds of weapons that could be bought legally at standard gun shops. That made it possible for the Crossroads of the West gun show to return to the  OC Fair & Event Center in January after a two-year hiatus.

The federal appeals court’s 3-0 ruling overturns that decision, effectively blocking the gun shows on state-owned fairgrounds, including the OC Fair & Event Center, yet again.

Related links

Crossroads of the West Gun Show returns to Orange County fairgrounds
Ban on gun shows at OC fairgrounds takes effect Jan. 1
Gun shows at OC fairgrounds are likely done unless Newsom vetoes bill

“Today’s a big win for anyone who cares about gun safety,” said Min, who is running for Congress in California’s 47th congressional district. “If you care about gun safety, if you care about preventing gun violence … this is a big win for you.”

The California Rifle and Pistol Association, a pro-gun owners organization that challenged the bans, said it would appeal Tuesday’s decision.

“CRPA will continue to protect the despised gun culture and fight back against an overreaching government that seeks to limit disfavored fundamental rights and discriminate against certain groups of people on state property,” the association said in a statement. “CRPA looks forward to seeing this misguided decision reversed in short order.”

B&L Productions, the group that operates Crossroads of the West gun shows, had also challenged the ban on gun sales on state property, alleging a violation of gun buyers’ constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and the right to keep and bear arms.

Judge Richard Clifton, appointed to the appeals court by former President George W. Bush, wrote in Tuesday’s 25-page decision that gun sales are “nonexpressive conduct” and thus are not protected by the First Amendment.

Min said his legislation prevents gun sellers from selling firearms on state property, not talking about them.

“If Crossroads of the West decided they wanted to do a show about how cool guns are where they spoke about guns, they can do that,” he said. “They just can’t sell them.”

In the ruling, Clifton wrote, A “celebration of America’s ‘gun culture,”’ in the words of one of B&L’s briefs, can still take place on state property, as long as that celebration does not involve contracts for the sale of guns.”

Plus, there are six licensed firearm dealers in the same ZIP code as the fairgrounds, Clifton noted in the ruling, and banning gun sales on state property won’t impair potential buyers from owning firearms.

As it was, a separate state law — not challenged in the ruling — imposes a 10-day waiting period and a background check before a firearms dealer can release the weapon to the buyer, meaning someone who purchased a gun at a show on fairgrounds would not be able to walk away with it that same day, the appeals court noted.

Related Articles

“Merely eliminating one environment where individuals may purchase guns does not constitute a meaningful constraint on Second Amendment rights when they can acquire the same firearms down the street,” he said.

Tracy Olcott, president of Crossroads of West, said the gun show has always been one of the “biggest financial contributors” to the OC Fair & Event Center. (When reached Tuesday afternoon, Olcott declined to comment on the ruling.)

The total revenue for the Crossroads of the West Gun Show held at the OC Fair & Event Center in January was $226,250, said event center spokesperson Terry Moore, which included parking as well as food and beverage commissions in addition to the rental fee.

The OC Fair & Event Center is waiting to hear from its attorney on the next possible steps, said Moore.

Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, applauded Tuesday’s ruling. Bonta, who defended the bans in court, said the ruling is “another victory in the battle against gun violence in our state and country.”

“If other states followed our policies, thousands of lives would be saved — we won’t stop defending our laws from the right’s radical lawsuits,” said Newsom.

Between 2016 and 2021, the Crossroads of the West gun show brought the fairgrounds about $2.6 million in rental revenue, and according to estimates from 2021, gun shows raked in more than $7 million over the last 25 years for the fairgrounds.

​ Orange County Register