Dave White is the defensive coordinator at Edison

• June 28, 2023

Dave White will serve as the defensive coordinator for Edison football this season.

White confirmed this on Monday.

White was the Chargers head coach for 31 seasons, leading them to 14 Sunset League championships and two CIF Southern Section championships. In recent seasons he has served as receivers and defensive backs coach at Edison where he was a star quarterback for Coach Bill Workman. Current Edison head coach Jeff Grady played for White at Edison.

Edison on Saturday is host of the annual Battle at the Beach passing tournament, annually one of the top football events of the summer.

​ Orange County Register 

Hajj pilgrims brave intense heat to cast stones at the ‘devil’

• June 28, 2023

By Riazat Butt | Associated Press

MINA, Saudi Arabia — Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims on Wednesday braved intense heat to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

With morning temperatures rising past 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Farenheit), huge crowds of pilgrims walked or took buses to the vast Jamarat complex just outside the holy city of Mecca, where large pedestrian bridges lead past three wide pillars representing the devil.

Using pebbles collected the night before at a campsite known as Muzdalifa, the pilgrims stone the pillars. It’s a reenactment of the story of the Prophet Ibrahim — known as Abraham in Christian and Jewish traditions — who is said to have hurled stones at Satan to resist temptation.

The ceremony was marred by tragedy on a number of occasions in the 1990s and 2000s, when hundreds died in stampedes during the stoning ritual. Saudi authorities have since built an expanded network of massive pedestrian bridges and redesigned the site to make it safer for pilgrims.

This year, the biggest danger might be the heat.

Temperatures soared past 45 degrees Celsius (113 F) on Tuesday, as Muslims marked the spiritual high point of the pilgrimage by spending the day praying at Mount Arafat, where there was no breeze and almost no shade.

Pilgrims huddled under umbrellas, dousing themselves with bottled water. Cellphones were almost too hot to hold and shut down after just a few minutes of use.

Saudi authorities have deployed tens of thousands of health workers for the pilgrimage and volunteers were handing out water. The Health Ministry said late Tuesday that it had treated 287 cases of sunstroke and heat exhaustion.

The annual Hajj pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all Muslims are required to undertake it at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able. For the pilgrims it is an unrivalled religious experience that wipes away sins, bringing them closer to God and face-to-face with fellow Muslims from all corners of the earth.

The last three days of the Hajj coincide with Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, a joyful occasion in which Muslims around the world sacrifice sheep or cattle and distribute some of the meat to the poor. The holiday commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael on God’s command. In Christian and Jewish traditions, Abraham is willing to sacrifice his other son, Isaac.

The holiday, which is held according to Islam’s lunar calendar, depending on the sighting of the moon, began Wednesday in several Middle Eastern countries and will begin Thursday in some Asian countries.

The Saudi royal family has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure to maintain Islam’s holiest sites and to hold the annual pilgrimage, which is a major source of its legitimacy. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, traveled to Mecca on Tuesday to oversee the pilgrimage, according to state-run media.

This is the first Hajj to be held without COVID-19 restrictions since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Authorities had expected some 2 million pilgrims, but official figures released late Tuesday showed that around 1.8 million were taking part in the pilgrimage. That’s considerably fewer than the nearly 2.5 million who came in 2019. Worldwide economic woes may have been a factor.

​ Orange County Register 

Afro Pride weekend brings ballroom dancing, music and more to Belasco Theater

• June 28, 2023

Following the festivities of Pride Month in June and LA Black Pride Week on June 28-July 3 — both of which celebrate the vibrant Los Angeles LGBTQ+ community with concerts, exhibitions, parades and wellness events — Afro Pride is coming to The Belasco Theater in Downtown Los Angeles on July 8-9.

Afro Pride stems from the intersections of Pride Month and Black Music Month and serves as a two-day bash for the Black LGBTQ+ community. Presented by Live Nation Urban’s Houses of Luv, an event series for Black and LGBTQ+ culture, and the Haus of Basquiat, one of ballroom’s leading houses, Afro Pride brings together music, ballroom dance and Black activism.

“As a Black Queer L.A. native I’ve always sought for spaces that Black Queer creative freedom could exist without being reduced to some sort of spectacle or meme,” Houses of Luv co-curator Zuhura shared in a statement about Afro Pride.

“Afro Pride is the physical manifestation of our spatial imaginaries coming to life with a communal effort to pick up the baton as a young generation of Black queer folks who are actively fighting anti-Black and anti-LGBT power systems. We will not submit to the false idea that our dehumanization is some sort of normalcy. We’re extending Pride beyond June and I can’t wait for the community and allies to experience more than a party, but a radical and memorable experience.”

The evening will kick off with Ballroom Honors and The Exhibition Life Imitates Art as a full ballroom performance, a well-known subculture within the Black and Latin LGBTQ+ communities in which participants dance, lip-sync and model for trophies and the bragging rights of being crowned the winner.

Curated by the Haus of Basquiat’s founding members Miss Shalae and Dashaun Wesley of the Emmy-nominated HBO Max ballroom competition series “Legendary,” the show will feature performances by Kidd Kenn, Lolit Leopard, Cookiee Kawaii and Sevendeep.

The following day will be a concert event filled with rising LGBTQ+ artists in the neo-soul and experimental dance music genres, with sets by Abra, Bbymutha, Alemeda, Shy Lennox, Bmajr, Naygod and Black Bass Collective.

Tickets for both nights are on sale at afropride.com. Tickets for Ballroom Honors and The Exhibition Life Imitates Art on July 8 start at $45. Tickets for the Afro Pride concert event on July 9 start at $37.

​ Orange County Register 

Concert in the Park series rocks Orange

• June 28, 2023

The summer is rockin’ in Orange with the city’s Concerts in the Park series.

Concerts are Wednesday nights through Aug. 9 and start at 6:30 p.m. Take a picnic or food will be for sale.

Coming up at Hart Park are:

July 12: Fabulous Yachtmen

July 19: Echo Love Chamber

July 26: Amanda Castro Band

Aug. 2: ’90s Rock Show

At Grijalva Park:

Aug. 9: Stone Soul

Information: cityoforange.org

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​ Orange County Register 

What if you can’t afford long-term care?

• June 28, 2023

As many as 8 in 10 older Americans couldn’t afford more than four years in an assisted living facility or two years in a nursing home, according to a 2023 analysis by the National Council on Aging and the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston.

This is particularly hard for people in the monetary middle, defined by Pew Research Center as “those with an annual household income of about $52,000 to $156,000 annually in 2020 dollars for a household of three.” They don’t have enough to pay for long-term care, but they have too many assets to qualify for government assistance. Medicare also doesn’t cover long-term care. What are the options for the 47 million households with older adults who will face this scenario?

From reverse mortgages to hybrid insurance policies, here are some avenues available to people who can’t afford the care they need.

Consider a reverse mortgage

If you have significant equity in your home and you’re at least 62 years old, a reverse mortgage can provide a helpful stream of income. A reverse mortgage is a loan or line of credit based on your home’s equity. You tap the equity now and pay the loan off when the home is sold.

“What most people do, especially in a situation like a long-term care issue — once they’re out of the house, you sell it and use the proceeds to pay it off,” says Nicholas Bunio, a certified financial planner in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

A reverse mortgage has downsides — closing costs are expensive, similar to taking out a traditional mortgage, and you’ll leave less to heirs — but if you’re planning to receive home care or there’s a spouse still at home, it can be a solid option. (Once there’s no one living in the home for a year or more, the home must be sold to pay back the loan.)

Price out insurance

If you have no major health issues, get quotes for long-term care insurance. Although experts recommend purchasing by age 65, you may be insurable up to age 79. Premiums can be pricey, but note that a semiprivate room in a nursing home costs more than $94,000 per year, according to the 2021 Cost of Care Survey by Genworth, an insurance company.

“In many cases, long-term care insurance is a lot less expensive than the actual cost of care,” says Michelle Gessner, a certified financial planner in Houston. “So $1 of premium gives you multiple dollars of benefits, and that’s not the case with paying for it out of pocket.”

Another option may be a permanent life insurance policy with a long-term care rider, often called a hybrid policy. Arrangements vary, but typically you can use some or all of your death benefit to pay for long-term care during your lifetime, and anything you don’t use will be paid to your estate when you die.

“People complain that they’re expensive,” Gessner says, but she points out that nursing home care can cost $6,000 to $7,000 a month (or more). “What I tell people is just get what you can afford,” she says. “It’s not all or nothing.”

Look into facilities with benevolent funds

Some nursing homes or assisted living communities offer benevolent care, meaning they’ll take someone in who doesn’t have enough money to pay full freight or who can’t pay full price for long. When someone runs out of money, the benevolent fund covers the difference for as long as they need care. (They’ll typically collect Social Security and pension payments that may come in to help cover costs.)

“They can be a good alternative for people who think they won’t have enough financial assets,” says Diane Pearson, a certified financial planner in Wexford, Pennsylvania.

Benevolent care funds are often connected to faith-based communities. A search for faith-based facilities in your area might yield some options.

Ask about a life settlement

If you have a life insurance policy and you’re considering letting it lapse or taking the cash value from it, a life settlement may be the better option. In a life settlement, a third party buys your insurance policy, and you typically receive between 5% and 25% of the value of the death benefit.

“There are investors out there who will basically make the premium payments on your behalf, but they keep the policy proceeds when you pass away,” says Christopher Lyman, a certified financial planner in Newtown, Pennsylvania. You might make this choice in a financial crisis. “The only reason you would do that is kind of like a last option,” he says.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press. 

More From NerdWallet

​ Orange County Register 

Anaheim’s $25-an-hour minimum wage special election moved to Oct. 3

• June 28, 2023

The special election to decide if hotel and event center workers in Anaheim should get a minimum $25 an hour will now happen on Oct. 3, after the City Council moved it at the request of the Orange County Registrar of Voters. 

The City Council agreed to delay the election by three weeks from Sept. 12 to give officials more time to prepare and print election materials. Ballots will be mailed out beginning Sept. 5. 

The City Council on June 13 approved putting the minimum wage measure to voters in a special election, rather than waiting until the November 2024 general election or choosing to implement it immediately without going to a public vote. 

City Attorney Robert Fabela reassured councilmembers the new date would still fall within the required timeframe for holding a special election. 

The special election will decide if the city should have a higher minimum wage for its service workers as well as implement various new workload regulations. 

The minimum wage proposal would apply to workers at Anaheim hotels and event centers larger than 20,000 square feet. 

Councilmembers Natalie Rubalcava, Jose Diaz and Natalie Meeks will write an argument against the proposed law that will be included in election materials.

“I believe this is an abuse of power by a union trying to destroy the economy,” Diaz said.

Mayor Ashleigh Aitken did not support the council writing an official argument against the minimum wage law and said she was concerned about the city putting its “thumb on the scale.”

Aitken and Councilmember Carlos Leon were the sole votes back in May supporting the measure backed by Unite Here Local 11 to raise wages. 

Election officials in late August will start mailing voter information guides, with arguments for and against the proposed law, to registered voters. 

The deadline to register to be eligible to vote in the special election is Sept. 18.

Ballot drop boxes will be available, as well as early voting. 

County election officials will need to certify the results by Nov. 2. If voters approve the law, it would go into effect 10 days after the count is certified.

Hotel and event centers could apply for up to a one-year exemption from implementing the wage increase if they prove to the city manager they would have to lay off workers or reduce hours to avoid shutting down.

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​ Orange County Register 

Travel: The Whitney Plantation outside New Orleans shows the reality of slavery

• June 28, 2023

There are a dozen restored antebellum mansions and plantations along the west bank of the Mississippi River, on the River Road outside of New Orleans, and they are among the most popular tourist day trips from the city.

Most of them spin the same fantasy — allowing visitors to imagine themselves as the master and mistress of the manor, strolling beneath the magnolias in hoop skirts and top hats, and then pulling a cord to summon a slave to bring a mint julep when it’s hot.

Such places are popular wedding venues, where would-be Scarlett O’Hara’s can marry under old oaks, in front of white mansions built with the money from sugar cane, rice and indigo fields worked by enslaved people.

Only one plantation goes out of its way to flip the story entirely.

The “Big House” plantation home built from cypress trees hewn by slaves, at the Whitney Plantation slavery museum near New Orleans, LA. (Photo by Marla Jo Fisher/SCNG)

The Whitney Plantation, also along the River Road, tells the same tale — but from the enslaved people’s point of view. And it’s a fascinating one.

Originally founded in 1752, the plantation went through several owners before being purchased in 1998 by John Cummings, a white former trial lawyer and civil rights activist from New Orleans.

He spent $8 million of his own money and 16 years turning it into America’s most important (and maybe only) museum of slavery. It opened in 2014.

Cummings said that he didn’t know what he was going to do with the property when he first bought it from a petrochemical company that had unsuccessfully sought to build a factory there, but after reading accounts of slaves that lived and worked on such plantations, he was inspired to create a museum.

Historian and author Ibrahima Seck came from Senegal to be the plantation’s director of research and help plan the exhibits.

Property records kept track of the purchase and sale of slaves, as well as their disposition after the owners’ deaths.

The Haydel family, German immigrants who founded the plantation and operated it and adjoining ones until 1867, owned 354 slaves over the years, according to the records.

A memorial on the property pays tribute and lists the names of 107,000 people known to have been enslaved in Louisiana, according to the Louisiana Slave Database. The 1860 U.S. Census, taken right before the Civil War, found nearly 4 million enslaved people living in the United States.

Since the African slave trade and its harsh aftermath are such shameful episodes in American history, people might assume that the plantation tour is grim and painful.

It is emotional — tour guides don’t mince words or hide the hard parts — but this important tour of American history is ultimately satisfying and helps fill in the blanks of many people’s curiosity about slavery and how it was practiced on such plantations.

The movies “Django Unchained” and “12 Years A Slave” were filmed at Whitney.

Like all such restored sites, people coming to Whitney Plantation see the elegant manor known as the “Big House,” but in this case they don’t learn about the master and mistress. No hoop skirts are in evidence.

Instead, visitors learn that the house was built of cypress wood, from trees chopped down and planed by slaves.

They hear about the domestic servants who worked there in the house and adjacent tiny kitchen building, perspiring over the hot pots and fires to feed its inhabitants.

As the museum’s excellent audio guide explains, most people would assume that the life of a domestic in a house like this was much easier than a field hand, but it also had its hardships.

Domestic slaves typically lived together in a small building behind the main house. However, they were on call 24 hours a day, and sometimes required to sleep on a pallet outside the owners’ bedrooms. Obviously, this also made it easier for masters to abuse their servants, who were unable to fight back.

On the other hand, field hands worked brutally hard from sunup until sundown, but they typically had their own small cabins to live in with their families, and the few hours remaining after sundown were theirs to enjoy.

Sugar cane plantations like this one were considered the most deadly places to work, with the types of diseases that haunt swamps, venomous snakes and sometimes fatal heat exhaustion in the high temperatures and humidity.

Legally, enslaved people were property — not human beings — so they could be whipped, tortured, mutilated, imprisoned or even killed with impunity, on the whims of masters.

These are the kinds of insights that Whitney visitors learn as they tour around the remaining 40 acres of the plantation.

At the Whitney Plantation slavery museum near New Orleans, LA. Bronze sugar kettle where slaves made molasses from sugar cane. (Photo by Marla Jo Fisher/SCNG)

In addition to the Big House, it includes a gift shop, a church built by ex-slaves, an iron jail, a blacksmith shop, a mule barn, the kitchen, the overseer’s house,the  garden, commemorative sculptures and actual slave cabins decorated with statues of the children who would have lived there.

The variety of artwork around the property lend a poignant air to the stories of the people who worked there.

At the Whitney Plantation slavery museum near New Orleans, LA. This Baptist church built by former slaves shortly after the war was moved to the plantation. Sculptures from the “Children of Whitney” series created by sculptor Woodrow Nash. (Photo by Marla Jo Fisher/SCNG)

Huge bronze sugar kettles demonstrate the legacy of sugar production, from sugar cane.

Some of the buildings are original, others were moved here or recreated.

Today, the museum is owned by a nonprofit devoted to educating the public about slavery and its legacy.

At this writing, adult visitors pay $25 to enter, depending on time of day and type of tour. Kids and seniors are cheaper. Both guided tours and self-guided audio tours are available. We did the audio tour, since no guided tours were offered the day we visited. The site is mostly wheelchair accessible on gravel pathways.

In the combined visitor center and gift shop, permanent exhibits describe the history of the international slave trade, worldwide and in Louisiana.

The museum is open daily except Tuesdays. The best way to visit is by rental car or by tour bus from New Orleans. Expect to spend about two hours at the museum.

Learn more: The Whitney Plantation, 5099 Louisiana Highway 18, Edgard, LA 70049. 225-265-3300. WhitneyPlantation.org

​ Orange County Register 

Rockin’ in Tustin’s Peppertree Park

• June 28, 2023

Peppertree Park turns into an outdoor concert venue on Wednesdays this summer.

The city of Tustin’s concerts in the park series continues through Aug. 2 with live music, lots of food and other fun for the community to enjoy.

The concerts start at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays. Coming up are:

July 5: Kings of 88

July 12: The Fenians

July 19: OC Groove

July 26: Suave the Band

Aug. 2: Sticks and Stones

Information: tustinca.org

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​ Orange County Register