LA County Fair returning with retro-themed fun and classic games too

• May 2, 2024

The LA County Fair returns Friday, May3, bringing fair favorites, spins on classic foods, and even a throwback trip to the roller rink.

This year’s theme “Stars, Stripes, and Fun” aims to celebrate the uniqueness of the community and the traditions they have created, organizers said.

One of those traditions is a call back to the time when roller skating was a popular pastime. This year the fair has a Skate-r-cade in Expo Hall 9. Skate rentals and access to the rink are included with fair admission, meaning everyone can take a spin around the throwback-themed rink.

Classic arcade games like Pac-Man and Pinball are also available to play in Expo Hall 9.

Other non-wheel-oriented activities include the flower and garden expo, where vibrant floral displays celebrate all things Southern California and Los Angeles County.

Fairgoers can also visit resident cold-blooded creatures at the Reptile House in the Great Outdoors section.

Alfredo Flores replaces a sign on a food stand at Fairplex in Pomona on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in preparation for the start of the LA County Fair. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

If scales are not for you, perhaps cheering on piglets, ducks and goats at the barnyard animal races is a better alternative.

Food vendors offer new takes on old favorites, like a funnel cake chicken sandwich, but classic tacos and bacon-wrapped items can still be found.

This year’s fair has something for all to enjoy, from car shows to agricultural education, homemade items and wine tasting with wines from all over the world.

About the LA County Fair

Where: Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona

When: Friday, May 3, through Monday, May 27

Hours: 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. opening day. After that, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, plus Memorial Day, May 27.

Cost: $17 to $25 for adults; $12 for children ages 6 to 12 and seniors 60 and older. Parking is $20.

Payment: Parking, admission and concert box office payments are cashless. Advance online purchases cost less than gate prices.

Information: lacountyfair.com

​ Orange County Register 

Discount Disneyland tickets for as little as $50 a day available all summer

• May 2, 2024

Disneyland has dropped ticket prices to as little as $50 a day for the entire summer stretching from the springtime Pixar Fest to Halloween Time in the fall with multi-day ticket offers that can serve as mini annual passes for those not willing to splurge on an expensive Magic Key pass.

The 2024 Disneyland summer ticket offer is good for three-day, one-park tickets for visits between June 10 through Sept. 26.

ALSO SEE: 5 best things I ate at Disneyland’s Pixar Fest

Tickets go on sale May 29 and sales may be paused or stopped at any time.

The three-day, one-park per day tickets start at $149 for children and $249 for adults for admission Monday through Thursdays. That works out to just under $50 per day for kids and $83 a day for adults.

You can also get weekend three-day, one-park tickets good on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for $199 for kids and $299 for adults. That’s $67 a day for children and $100 for adults.

All the tickets can be upgraded with the parkhopper option or Disney Genie+ line-skipping service.

ALSO SEE: Tortilla Jo’s owner working on ‘many opportunities’ at Downtown Disney

By comparison, a one-day/one-park ticket costs $104 to $194 while a parkhopper ticket that gets you into both parks on a single day will set you back $169 to $259. The Genie+ line-cutting service typically costs $30 per day.

Related Articles

The three-day tickets don’t have to be used on consecutive dates. Advance reservations are required for each visit. Disneyland warns that reservations are not guaranteed and could be difficult to get as the ticket expiration date approaches.

The ticket deal stretches throughout the summer and includes Pixar Fest (which runs through Aug. 4), the “Fantasmic” nighttime spectacular (returning May 24) and Halloween Time (starting Aug. 23).

Disneyland is also offering 20% discounts on single night weekday stays at the Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel (but not the recently refurbished Pixar Place Hotel) and 25% discounts on stays of four nights or longer.

The hotel discounts are available June 10 through Sept. 26 and can be reserved starting May 29. The deals are not available on some suites and villas.

​ Orange County Register 

Israel-Hamas war a thorny issue for Southern California Democrats

• May 2, 2024

Want to make a Democrat running for office squirm? Ask about Gaza.

The Israel-Hamas war and the related campus unrest, including the Tuesday night, April 30, violent clash between protesters and counterprotesters at UCLA, are delicate issues for Southern California Democrats on the November ballot.

Side with Israel and risk alienating young voters and far-left activists. Sympathize with Palestinians and student protesters and risk the wrath of Jewish voters and the deep-pocketed American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

RELATED: UCLA resumes ‘limited’ operations after police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment; Dozens detained

“It’s obviously a polarizing issue within the Democratic Party right now,” Derek Humphrey, a Riverside-based Democratic political consultant, said via email.

“Most candidates for state or municipal office have tried to avoid the subject publicly in order to focus on local issues. But candidates are certainly getting asked about it. It’s anyone’s guess as to how prominent the issue will be or where public opinion will be when voting begins in the fall.”

There are few places in California where the war looms larger than in the open 47th Congressional District in Orange County.

In Irvine, the largest city in the district where protests against the Israel-Hamas war have sprung up on the UC Irvine campus, large Jewish and Muslim communities coexist.

For example, nowhere else in Orange County is there an eruv, an area in which people of the Jewish faith can do things that are otherwise usually forbidden on the Sabbath in public areas.

In Irvine, a 100-pound fishing line, a berm and walls create the eruv, which runs along the side of the 405 Freeway, to University Drive, to Harvard Avenue and back up to near the freeway. Also in the district is the Islamic Center of Irvine, known to be one of the largest Muslim congregations in California.

The anger that has risen locally since Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel has shown itself through the hours of residents’ comments at Irvine City Council meetings and now the protest at UCI, where demonstrators are calling for the university to divest itself from businesses with ties to Israeli and weapon manufacturers.

RELATED: Violence breaks out at UCLA after counter-protesters storm pro-Palestinian encampment

It has already played out in the congressional primary in the district.

Pro-Palestinian voters have expressed distaste over the millions of dollars funneled into the race by a pro-Israel lobbying group, and Jewish voters have said they are voting for the candidate who is the strongest supporter of Israel.

Scott Baugh, the Republican candidate who will face Democratic state Sen. Dave Min in the November runoff in the 47th, said he has no idea whether the war in Gaza will become an issue in his campaign, but that “there will always be a place for peaceful protests in America, even for those with whom we disagree.”

“However, there is no room for the antisemitism, hate, violence, vandalism and promotion of terrorist activity that is taking place on many of these campuses,” Baugh said on X Tuesday.

“I want to restate my unequivocal support of Israel and the right of Israel to take action against terrorists who state as their goal the destruction of the Jewish State and death to all Jewish people.”

Min could not immediately be reached.

Politically, Gaza is a much simpler issue for Republicans, most if not all of whom, support Israel. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, said via email that he was “proud to be a co-sponsor and lead the effort on the House floor to provide critical security funding for Israel last month.”

Calvert, who faces a tough reelection fight against Democrat Will Rollins in a swing district in Riverside County, added: “It is shameful that Rollins would align himself with those calling for a ceasefire while Hamas still holds 129 hostages, including Americans.

“The abhorrent, antisemitic demonstrations we’ve seen at UCLA and across the country are an egregious violation of the Civil Rights Act and need to be shut down immediately.”

Rollins wrote in an email that he understands “Israel’s need to dismantle Hamas, the importance of standing with our ally in their efforts to return hostages after the horrors of October 7, and the critical necessity to minimize the human toll of this war. To insinuate anything otherwise is not only untrue and offensive, but hypocritical.”

Related Articles

Last week, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey stood before Israeli flags waving in the breeze —  part of a Beverly Hills art installation memorializing victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack — and decried what he sees as antisemitism at colleges.

The student encampments, Garvey said, are “organized support of terrorism” and “a moment where terrorism is disguised as free speech.”

“Now it’s the campuses, great institutions, that all of a sudden are lacking leadership, where all of a sudden (they’re) saying one group, under the disguise of free speech, can attack another,” he added.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, Garvey’s foe in the Senate race, announced Wednesday, May 1, his vote for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, “which strengthens the administration’s ability to combat antisemitism on college campuses,” according to a Schiff news release.

“Free speech and passionate disagreement are fundamental to our democracy, and college campuses must be places where those values are both taught and exemplified,” Schiff, who is Jewish, said in the release.

“But violence, vandalism, and antisemitic harassment and intimidation are not free speech and those engaging in this behavior should be held accountable.”

In deep blue L.A., two Los Angeles City Council candidates have no qualms about supporting Palestinians.

Ysabel Jurado, who has undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA, said in a statement that seeing students “peacefully exercising their right to free speech” makes her proud.

“I stand with UCLA students who continue to demand a divestment from the weapons manufacturing companies that are facilitating the unspeakable horrors in Gaza,” Jurado said.

Another L.A. council candidate, Jillian Burgos, said in an Instagram post she was “disturbed” by reports of counter-protesters being allowed “to terrorize student protesters.”

“Protests are the actions of those who feel their voices are not being heard,” Burgos wrote. “Rather than using violence to further silence them, we need to ask ourselves what we’re so afraid to hear.”

But in another L.A. council race, candidate Grace Yoo said the conflict won’t enter her campaign, which focuses on safe streets, city services and carrying residents’ voices to City Hall.

“It does however lift up the fact that Angelenos are passionate about what they believe,” she said. “And I hope through my campaign I’m able to promote understanding rather than division.”

Republican Tony Rodriguez, who is running for the Assembly’s District 44 seat representing parts of L.A. County, plans to address the violent campus clashes during his campaign.

‘We can’t keep running away from issues,” he said. “It’s out there and it’s affecting our schools. It’s affecting our friends and relationships. It’s affecting even going to work because people are blocking traffic.” 

Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, said via email that the timing of elections affected the issue’s impact on races.

Related links

UCLA cancels classes, condemnations roll in, after night of violence at pro-Palestinian encampment
Violent clashes break out at UCLA after counter-protesters storm pro-Palestinian encampment
UCLA faculty walk out as pro-Palestine demonstrations, counterprotests grow across SoCal campuses
UCLA declares Palestine encampment unlawful, USC president in talks with protesters
Will more graduations get canceled? Southern California colleges grapple with safety amid Gaza protests

California’s early March primary “meant that foreign policy largely came up in the U.S. Senate race and not as much in other campaigns,” Godwin wrote in an email.

That said, “all candidates for public office should expect questions on Israel, Hamas, and Gaza for the foreseeable future,” she said.

“The recent campus protests have added more ideological dimensions to what is a very complex situation. Republican congressional candidates may have an opportunity to campaign even more on law-and-order issues and to criticize certain colleges, somewhat echoing themes from decades past when Ronald Reagan was elected governor and S.I. Hayakawa was elected to the Senate.”

If there’s a positive for Democrats, “the recent protests may very well increase turnout amongst younger voters, which has been more of a concern for Democrats,” Godwin added.

​ Orange County Register 

Dunn: Wedding bells for Newport Beach councilmember, Cowboys fan

• May 2, 2024

Newport Beach Mayor Pro-Tem Joe Stapleton didn’t need to star in the television series “The Bachelor” to find his dream girl.

Stapleton, a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan who grew up in Tucson and played youth football for many years on a Cowboys team, was enjoying dinner one night at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, where he serves on the board of directors, when a cousin mentioned that she knew a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and that the two of them should meet.

They did – and talked on the phone for three hours. What followed was a long-distance relationship, with Stapleton in Newport Beach and his fiancée, Julie Jacobs, in Dallas, where she lived for 17 years and still owns a house.

The couple is planning to tie the knot Oct. 19 in Tuscany.

Jacobs moved to Newport Beach and became the best promoter in Stapleton’s 2022 campaign for a City Council seat, thanks to her door-to-door treks, experience making public appearances and generating interest for an organization, important components for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, who are grilled with training in media relations, etiquette, referees, game rules and regulations and a variety of public persona details.

There’s no fraternizing with the players, but Jacobs admitted her favorite player “by far” was Jason Whitten, a former Dallas tight end.

The cheerleaders do their own hair and makeup. They arrive at 6 a.m. for Sunday day games to practice all morning. Every cheerleader must either have a full-time job, be a full-time student or a full-time mother to qualify for the glamorous role of a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, the No. 1 dance and cheerleading sports outfit in the world, according to sports lore. The Laker Girls Dance Team is ranked No. 2, Jacobs said.

But the life of a professional dancer in the spotlight is challenging and competitive. Despite some serious knee injuries, Jacobs lasted four years as a Cowboys cheerleader. She dislocated her left knee three times after performing a “jump split” in cowboy boots, in which they land on the ground while doing the splits.

Once, during a game, Jacobs put her knee back in place and continued with the routines. After, she was examined by a member of the medical team in the locker room to make sure she was healthy, and a cheerleading director quipped, “Iis that why you took an extra step,” she said.

Jacobs was inspired to become a Cowboys cheerleader after watching the team play on Thanksgiving Day, a longtime tradition for the franchise. There were 1,000 girls trying out in the first round, only 35 would make the team.

“My dad said, ‘Wow, so you went to college for this?’ But I told him, yeah, I honestly think I’m going to make it,” she said. “He was very proud of me and he’s been my biggest cheerleader.”

What does it take to become a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader?

“You really have to like to dance,” Jacobs said, and it’s not for the salary because first-year cheerleaders earn a whopping $50 a game, with an increase to $100 a game in your second year.

Most of the cheerleaders have a short career span. By Jacobs’ fourth and final year, she was making $200 a game. Some cheerleaders move on to careers in the media, and a few worked in theater on Broadway in New York.

“I still miss performing. I get jealous when I see them out there,” said Jacobs, whose Cowboys calling lasted from 2006 to 2010, from her first tryout to making the all-star team.

Jacobs, now a Pilates instructor in the area, discussed her Cowboys career April 16 at the Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar, site of the public forum “Tackling Sports,” hosted by former NFL referee Laird Hayes and Stu News Newport Publisher Tom Johnson.

Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.

​ Orange County Register 

Daxon: No strike for Brea teachers

• May 2, 2024

After weeks of talks and negotiations, even ones including outside mediators, the Brea Olinda Teachers Association and the Brea Olinda Unified School District have finally agreed on salary terms for the teachers.

So there is no chance of the teachers walking picket lines instead of walking into their classrooms.

“I am pleased to share the teachers agreed to a 2-year agreement, pending board approval on May 9,” Superintendent Brinda Leon said via email.

What the teachers agreed to accept is a 2.40% on-schedule increase, retroactive to July 1, and a 1.60% on-schedule increase, effective from April 1. There is no off-schedule increase, or bonus.

The district’s offer was a 4% increase, a combination on-schedule and off-schedule compensation. While BOTA’s request was for a 4% on-schedule, plus an off-schedule increase. So there is no bonus, but the raise is retroactive in the two-year agreement. Seems like an acceptable compromise.

But the best part is that they came to an agreement without the teachers having to going out on strike, especially so close to all the students’ last day of school, May 31.

May 31 is also graduation day for both Brea Olinda High School and Brea Canyon High School. No more getting out of school in the middle of June. And, they go back on Aug. 15. Maybe the old song, “See You in September” needs to be updated.

Something very much updated is AUsome Resource Market’s Rise of Inclusion Celebration, which will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 4 at Fullerton Free Church, 2801 N. Brea Blvd.

There will be more than 50 vendors, assorted food trucks, music by DJ B. Diamond, games, family activities and kid-friendly, interactive fun for all, including neurodivergent kids. There will even be a chance to meet Star Wars characters.

Rise of Inclusion sounds like a fun event for everyone. And entrance and parking are free.

It all started with AUsome Sauce, a nonprofit organization founded by Sarah Watkins, whose young son is autistic. The organization lends support, resources and activities for families with members whose brains work differently. Check out there website: AusomeSauce.org.

Springtime means lots of fun activities in Brea.

Mark your calendar for the annual Brea Bonanza Days Country Music Festival May 17, 18, 19 on Birch Street, Brea Downtown. Grab your boots, your 10-gallon hat and get ready to line dance to cool country bands all weekend long.

Free admission and parking, plus plenty of food and drinks available. Go to BreaDowntown.com for the days and times your favorite country singers will be on stage.

Do you know how Brea’s Bonanza Days got started? According to Linda Shay, Brea Museum executive director and curator, the Brea Lions Rodeo began in 1952 and in 1968 it became Bonanza Days.

“There was a pancake breakfast, picnic and a carnival,” said Shay. She added that there was also a Bicentennial Bonanza Parade on Brea Boulevard in 1976.

And don’t forget to come to Brea Downtown at 5 p.m. on May 23 for the Brea Chamber of Commerce’s annual Taste of Brea, featuring tastes from many restaurants, wineries and breweries.

Go to BreaChamber.com for ordering tasting tickets and more information.

Why not buy Mom a Taste of Brea ticket for Mother’s Day, May 12? Save $10 if you order it by May 22. Better get one for Dad, too.

Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month. Contact her at  [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

States rethink data centers as ‘electricity hogs’ strain the grid

• May 2, 2024

Kevin Hardy | Stateline.org (TNS)

State Sen. Norm Needleman championed the 2021 legislation designed to lure major data centers to Connecticut.

The Democratic lawmaker hoped to better compete with nearby states, bring in a growing industry, and provide paychecks for workers tasked with building the sprawling server farms.

But this legislative session, he’s wondering if those tax breaks are appropriate for all data centers, especially those with the potential to disrupt the state’s clean energy supply.

Particularly concerning to him are plans for a mega data center on the site of the state’s only nuclear power plant. The developer is proposing an arrangement that would give it priority access to electricity generated at the plant, which would mean less carbon-free power for other users.

“That affects our climate goals,” he said. “It’s additional demand of renewable energy that we would have to replace.”

Needleman, co-chair of the Senate Energy and Technology Committee, is now reconsidering details of the state incentive program as he works on legislation to study the impact of data centers on the state’s electric grid. Mistakes now, he said, could lead to “a real crisis.”

Compared with other employers that states compete for, such as automotive plants, data centers hire relatively few workers. Still, states have offered massive subsidies to lure data centers — both for their enormous up-front capital investment and the cachet of bringing in big tech names such as Apple and Facebook. But as the cost of these subsidy programs balloons and data centers proliferate coast to coast, lawmakers in several states are rethinking their posture as they consider how to cope with the growing electricity demand.

From the outside, data centers can resemble ordinary warehouses. But inside, the windowless structures can house acres of computer servers used to power everything from social media to banking. The centers suck up massive amounts of energy to keep data moving and water to keep servers from overheating.

Data centers are the backbone of the increasingly digital world, and they consume a growing share of the nation’s electricity, with no signs of slowing down. The global consultancy McKinsey & Company predicts these operations will double their U.S. electric demands from 17 gigawatts in 2022 to 35 gigawatts by 2030 — enough electricity to power more than 26 million average homes.

Some states, including Maryland and Mississippi, continue to pursue incentives to land new data centers. But in other states, the growth of the industry is raising alarms over the reliability and affordability of local electric grids, and fears that utilities will meet the demand by leaning more heavily on fossil fuel generation rather than renewables.

In South Carolina, lawmakers have started to question whether these massive power users should continue to receive tax breaks and preferential electric rates.

In Virginia, home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers, a legislative study is underway to learn more about how those operations are affecting electric reliability and affordability.

And Georgia lawmakers just passed legislation that would halt the state’s tax incentives for new data centers for two years. Georgia is home to more than 50 data centers, including those supporting AT&T, Google and UPS, according to the state commerce department.

Related Articles

Georgia Republican state Sen. John Albers, a sponsor of the Senate bill, said the significant growth of data centers in his state has helped communities and schools by boosting property tax revenues. But, considering factors such as water and electric use, he said the return on the state’s investment “is not there” and that “initial findings do not support credits from the state level.”

Nationwide, data center subsidies were costing state and local governments about $2 million per job created, according to a 2016 study by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit watchdog group that tracks economic development incentives. That figure has certainly ballooned in recent years, said Kasia Tarczynska, the organization’s senior research analyst, who authored the report.

The Georgia bill now sits on the desk of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whose office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Data Center Coalition, a trade group representing tech giants including Amazon, Google and Meta, is urging a veto.

Josh Levi, president of the organization, said data center companies are investing billions in new Georgia data centers, making metro Atlanta one of the nation’s biggest industry hubs.

Levi noted that lawmakers in 2022 extended the state’s tax credit program through 2031.

“The abrupt suspension of an incentive that not only has been on the books, but that was extended two years ago, I think signals tremendous uncertainty, not just for the data center industry, but more broadly,” he said.

Levi said the data center industry has been at the forefront of pushing clean energy. As of last year, data center providers and customers accounted for two-thirds of American wind and solar contracts, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report.

“Fundamentally, data is now the lifeblood of our modern economy,” he said. “Everything that we do in our personal and professional lives really points back to data generation, processing and storage.”

‘Electricity hogs’

In fast-growing South Carolina, lawmakers have pointed to data centers as a major factor in rising electricity demand.

As part of a broader energy bill, the legislature considered a measure that would prevent data centers from receiving discounted power rates.

Republican state Rep. Jay West said inducements such as reduced power rates are appropriate for major, transformational endeavors. He pointed to the BMW factory in Spartanburg, which employs 11,000 people, draws in major suppliers and pumps millions into the state economy.

While data centers boost local property taxes receipts, they don’t do much for the state, he said, and shouldn’t receive preferential rates. And they are being built faster than new energy generation can be added.

“I do not speak for my caucus or the [legislative] body in saying this,” he said, “but I don’t think South Carolina can handle more data centers.”

The House provision on data center utility rates was quickly struck in a Senate committee, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.

Lynn Teague, vice president of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina, said that change was made with no public discussion.

Teague, who lobbies the legislature, said South Carolinians, including more than 700,000 people living in poverty, shouldn’t have to pick up the tab for tax or utility breaks for major data center firms.

“We have companies like Google with over $300 billion in revenues a year wanting these folks to subsidize their profit margin at the same time that they’re putting intense pressure on not just our energy, but our water,” she said.

Lawmakers saw data centers as a possible successor to South Carolina’s declining textile industry when they approved the data center incentives in 2012, The State reported at the time. One Republican bill sponsor, then-state Rep. Phyllis Henderson, also cited North Carolina’s success with data center incentives, saying South Carolina was “just losing projects right and left to them.”

But on the Senate floor earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, a Republican, described data centers as “electricity hogs that aren’t really providing a whole lot of jobs.”

‘Rippling effects’

Virginia has been a hub for data centers for decades, touting its proximity to the nation’s capital, inexpensive energy, a robust fiber network and low risk of natural disasters. Now, Virginia lawmakers are increasingly scrutinizing the industry.

That’s in part because data centers have moved into traditionally residential areas, said Republican state Del. Ian Lovejoy, who represents a Northern Virginia district.

He sponsored two pieces of legislation this year affecting data center land use issues. One would have prevented data centers from building too close to parks, schools or neighborhoods; another would have altered land use disclosure rules for developers.

“There’s no way to power the data center inventory that’s being proposed and is likely to be built without substantial increases to the power infrastructure and power generation,” he said. “And that’s going to have rippling effects far away from where the data centers are being sited.”

Aaron Ruby, spokesperson for Dominion Energy in Virginia, the state’s predominant electric provider, said data centers, like other classes of customers, pay for the costs of their electric generation and transmission.

He said the company forecasts consumers’ monthly bills to grow by less than 3% annually over the next 15 years. That increase, he said, is due to the company’s significant investment in renewable energy projects. While Dominion is “all in” on renewables, Ruby said it doesn’t foresee being able to meet increasing demand with only renewables.

“That’s just not physically possible,” he said.

Dominion has pointed to data center growth as a key driver of its increasing electricity demand. In one state filing, the company said Virginia’s data centers had a peak load of almost 2.8 gigawatts in 2022.That was 1.5 times the capacity of the company’s North Anna nuclear plant, which powers about 450,000 homes.

“It is heart-stopping — just the scale at which these things are growing and the power they’re sucking up,” said Kendl Kobbervig, the advocacy and communications director at Clean Virginia, a well-funded advocacy group pushing for renewable energy, campaign finance reform and greater oversight of utilities.

She said the state must address how data centers could undercut its clean energy goals and how the industry is affecting the utility bills of everyday households and small businesses.

Over the past two years, Clean Virginia has tracked more than 40 proposed bills related to data centers.

Most of those efforts stalled this session as some lawmakers elected to wait on the results of a study announced in December by the state’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

The lack of action frustrated many lawmakers and residents.

“I don’t know exactly what the study is going to say that we don’t already know,” said Democratic state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, who sponsored a bill that would have required data centers to meet certain energy efficiency and clean energy standards to be eligible for the state’s lucrative sales tax exemptions.

“I think we already know that data centers take up a lot of power and present a lot of challenges to our grid.”

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

For immigrant workers who die in US, a body’s journey home is one last struggle

• May 2, 2024

Nearly two decades after Maynor Suazo Sandoval left Honduras seeking American prosperity, he will finally make the long-awaited trip home.

Suazo Sandoval was a month from his 39th birthday when he and five other highway workers fell to their deaths March 26 as the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed.

His return soon to Central America will allow his mother, Emerita, to lay her youngest child to rest in his native soil. People plan to meet Suazo Sandoval’s body at the airport in San Pedro Sula with a caravan of cars to accompany him to his hometown of Azacualpa, where the married father sent enough money from the U.S. to fund a kids’ soccer league and his relatives’ educations. The family expects a crowd of 4,000 people to say their goodbyes. 

“It was Maynor’s wish to be buried in his land,” said his nephew, Hector Guardado Suazo, speaking in Spanish by phone from Honduras. 

Suazo Sandoval is not unique among Baltimore-area immigrants who want their country of origin to be their final resting place. But repatriation can be a costly and lengthy process. And it complicates funeral arrangements for relatives, many of whom are forced — by physical separation and the need for visas and passports — to mourn in one country or the other. 

Still, the pull of tradition or a desire to satisfy the deceased’s wishes motivates Maryland’s immigrant families to scrape together thousands of dollars, some selling chicken and rice at construction sites or asking for donations online. 

Candi Cann, an associate professor at Baylor University who studies death, dying and grief, said for the many immigrants who come to the U.S. out of economic necessity, repatriation is a last “gift” a family can give the deceased. 

“Many of them left because they felt like they had no other options,” Cann said. “Repatriation under these circumstances becomes even more important and it becomes a kind of symbol, if you will, of the love and care of the community, that their one last act for the dead is to allow them to return home.” 

So far, teams combing the Patapsco River’s depths have recovered the bodies of five men, including Suazo Sandoval and Miguel Luna, whose body was found Wednesday. One worker, José Mynor López, remains missing. 

While some of the workers’ families have decided to repatriate their loved ones, 35-year-old Alejandro Hernández Fuentes‘s relatives planned to bury him in the U.S.

Widespread public attention and sympathy for the families of the Key Bridge crew has generated enough money to help fund repatriation expenses, as well ensuring the U.S. granted permission for two dozen relatives to travel here to mourn their loss. Officials obtained authorization in as little as 24 hours for some relatives to enter the United States, said Tom Perez, a senior White House adviser and a former Maryland and federal labor secretary who has met with families.

The relatives of Maryland immigrants who die in less-public circumstances rely on community advocates, funeral directors and foreign diplomats to usher their loved ones home. For some, the U.S. immigration system determines whether families grieve together or apart.

The path to a final flight

On Monday morning, funeral director Brian Cable prepared to transport the body of a woman from Philip D. Rinaldi Funeral Service in Silver Spring to BWI Marshall Airport for her final flight to Honduras.

It’s not unusual for the suburban Washington funeral home to repatriate several bodies a week to other countries, part of a service for which Rinaldi charges $7,500. 

Although arranging for a repatriation can take as little as seven to 10 business days, families sometimes wait months to ship a body to allow political instability to subside at home, gather far-flung family members for a funeral, wait out a rainy season or raise enough money, Cable said. 

On Monday, the woman’s sealed metal casket lay in a cardboard container that was mounted on a wooden base. Rinaldi employees assembled a death certificate, an affidavit, a county health department letter stating the body was free from contagious diseases and a burial transit permit.

Days earlier, her relatives held a church service and an overnight vigil. Cable said families often hold visitations late in the evening to allow fellow immigrants working two or three jobs to attend.

Susana Barrios attended such a late-night Mass in March at Sacred Heart of Jesus for three members of a family who died in a fire in Baltimore Highlands in Southeast Baltimore. 

Related Articles

Barrios, vice president of the Latino Racial Justice Circle, helped arrange repatriation of the bodies for the Guatemalan family, sorting out the complex paperwork that can be an obstacle for people in the grip of grief.

Ángel Gustavo Adolfo Paz Gutierrez, 8; his sister, Yeymi Rubi Gutierrez Paz, 13, and their cousin, Geremias Gutierrez Gomez, 22, were laid to rest March 24 in Guatemala. Barrios made use of a contact at the Guatemalan consulate to help the three-week process along, a resource of which she said not everyone is aware.

“A lot of the time, people just go around their community and they do food sales. They sell pupusas, they sell whatever, so they can raise money to repatriate,” Barrios said. 

A few thousand dollars can be a hurdle for families that have just lost someone who was a breadwinner for dependents in their home country. That was the case for Geremias Gutierrez Gomez, who was supporting his child and his younger sister in Guatemala. 

Also, Barrios said, funeral homes occasionally charge grieving families too much or fail to be transparent about their prices.

“If you know what’s happening, it’s not hugely complicated,” Barrios said. “But if you don’t know what’s happening, you can fall prey.” 

Barrios experienced the repatriation process herself more than two decades ago. Her brother, Carlos Flores, 33, was found dead in 2003 in a trailer at a Fells Point construction site. Consumed by heartbreak, she let her then-husband handle most of the arrangements.

“For us, it wasn’t religious. It was my mother,” Barrios said. “She needed to bury him in Guatemala. She visits him there.”

For most undocumented relatives, grieving apart is a “sad reality,” Barrios said. Some people who live in the U.S. can’t travel home with a body without risking being denied reentry, while family abroad can’t easily enter the United States to make funeral arrangements. Even for those with a secure immigration status, time and distance can create their own difficulties.

“It’s a blessing and a curse when you’re here and you haven’t seen family members in so many years,” Barrios said. “When somebody passes away and you’re used to not seeing them, it’s not real sometimes that they are gone.” 

Funeral Director Brian Cable of Rinaldi Funeral Service in Silver Spring, describes the complexities of repatriating the deceased to their home countries. (Jerry Jackson/Staff)

Extra paperwork

Along with supplying or approving documents, foreign consulates also offer financial assistance to those trying to send a loved one home. 

Honduran families in the Washington area who ask the consulate to help pay for repatriation can go to one of six funeral homes, including two in Maryland, said Bianka Cortes, a protection agent for Honduran migrants at the Consular Section of the Embassy of Honduras in Washington.

For needy families, the Honduran consulate will pay the cost — around $7,000 to $10,000 — directly to those funeral homes. 

“In Honduras, we do not have the culture of cremating our bodies, so burying them is our cultural way to say our last goodbye to our family members,” Cortes said.

Families in Honduras typically hold a candlelight vigil — “una vela” — and spend 24 hours eating food and drinking coffee before burying the body the next day, she said. 

The Consulate General of Guatemala in Maryland receives between 15 to 20 requests per month for information on repatriating loved ones’ remains. Around three families apply each month for economic assistance, according to a consulate spokesperson. 

Carmen Luna paints a message to her late husband, Miguel Luna, on a mural dedicated to the six workers killed in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. (Jerry Jackson/Staff)

Funeral directors perform the bulk of the legwork when it comes to repatriation, which varies between countries and requires more documents than a local burial or transporting a body within the U.S.

“It really does boil down to paperwork,” said Michael T. Kaczorowski, the owner and mortician at Kaczorowski Funeral Home on Dundalk Avenue. “We try to take as much off the family’s plate as humanly possible.” 

To send a body to some countries, a Maryland-based funeral director might need to pay a visit to a consulate in Washington, have documents certified in Annapolis and get materials professionally translated, all before booking a flight and bringing the body to an airport’s cargo facility. Coordinating across language barriers with a funeral home in the receiving country can add an extra layer of difficulty. Prices vary, as costs like airfare fluctuate throughout the year.

Requirements differ from country to country and airline to airline. In some cases, remains that have not been embalmed or cremated may not be accepted, said Jack Mitchell, president of the Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home in Towson and past president of the National Funeral Directors Association.

An embalming requirement could create added difficulties for some Key Bridge families, Mitchell said. The bodies of the victims who have not yet been found may be too decomposed for the traditional preservation process, which requires fluids to be circulated through a person’s blood vessels, he said.

However, morticians may be able to use other embalming methods to meet the requirements, said Andrew Dowell, a mortician at Lilly & Zeiler Funeral Home in Baltimore, which handles one to two repatriations each month.

Or, the families could opt for cremation.

The countries the six Key Bridge workers hailed from — Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Guatemala — have deep Catholic roots. Although the Vatican lifted a prohibition on cremation in 1963, the church still requires ashes to be buried, rather than scattered. 

Home to Kathmandu

For some immigrants, local burial traditions may drive the desire to repatriate. In Nepal, those customs often involve cremating the deceased in a wood fire along the banks of a nearby river.

For Nepalis whose loved ones die in the United States, Democratic Del. Harry Bhandari of Baltimore County said he has become something like a “911 call.” Since he became the first Nepalese American elected to office in the U.S. in 2019, he has helped nearly 400 families navigate the process of repatriating bodies to South Asia.

Some challenges of repatriation to Nepal include contacting next-of-kin who are 10 time zones away and don’t have reliable phone and internet access, as well as transporting remains to towns so remote they can require a helicopter ride from the capital of Kathmandu. 

For the rich and well-connected, the process may not be difficult, Bhandari said. But most of the people who call Bhandari for help are from poor families, with a deceased loved one who traveled to America in search of education or opportunity. 

“They don’t have a voice. It’s hard for them to navigate through the process,” Bhandari said. “They don’t have the resources. They don’t have a contact.”

Across the Nepali-American community, word has traveled about his expertise, so much so that his senior citizen constituents bring it up.“They say: ‘Hey, Delegate, I have heard that you help Nepalis,’” Bhandari said. “‘If I die, can you please send my body to Nepal?’”

Baltimore Sun reporter Lia Russell contributed to this article.

​ Orange County Register 

New Key Bridge estimated to be completed by fall 2028, cost up to $1.9B, officials say

• May 2, 2024

Maryland transportation officials said Thursday that they expect to replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge with a new span in just over four years.

The project to replace the span of Interstate 695 by fall of 2028 is estimated to cost between $1.7 and $1.9 billion, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said Thursday.

Plans to replace the 1.6-mile bridge have been in flux since the span collapsed into the Patapsco River early March 26, when a support column was struck by a massive cargo ship, killing six construction workers. Experts initially estimated it’d take between two and 15 years to replace the bridge, which closed the loop of the Baltimore Beltway when it opened in 1977.

The cost estimate is preliminary, with detailed engineering specifics not confirmed, Wiedefeld said in a phone interview. A major caveat in the timeline will be going through the bidding process, too. The rebuild will be a “progressive design-build” project, meaning the selected contractor will hire a designer and plan steps along the way, to “get this thing open as quickly as possible,” Wiedefeld said.

The new bridge is expected to be paid for either mostly or entirely with federal funds, with Maryland’s entire congressional delegation putting forth legislation to ensure the federal government covers all costs.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore was slated to discuss funding with House lawmakers Thursday morning in Washington.

Democratic President Joe Biden has pledged for the federal government to pay for the entire response, committing to moving “heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as rapidly as humanly possible” while visiting the collapse site last month. His administration has started that process by releasing an initial $60 million in emergency relief funds to Wiedefeld’s department.

The federal government, in turn, will get some relief from a $350 million payout from Chubb, the state’s insurance provider for the Key Bridge, Wiedefeld confirmed, saying that the money would be directed to the federal government as part of a condition of the Federal Highway Administration’s emergency relief program, which is funding the bulk of the bridge rebuild.

Related Articles

Until Thursday, most considerations on the new bridge were hypothetical, with officials largely focused on clearing the nearly 50,000 tons of steel and concrete from the path of the bridge that has blocked the Port of Baltimore to most vessel traffic. Crews were still in the water Thursday trying to clear the wreckage of the old bridge from the river and locate the last of the six construction workers who were killed in the collapse.

Officials said earlier this week that they are focused on removing sections of steel off the Dali in an effort to refloat the giant freighter, which is more than three football fields long and remains stuck aground on the side of the harbor’s main channel. While alternate channels are allowing larger vessels each week, the main 50-foot channel is still expected to open around the end of this month.

The Maryland Transportation Authority, which oversees the bridge, will be holding a virtual forum May 7 with the construction industry as the agency develops a formal request for proposals.

Until the new bridge is open, the state will continue to work on strategies to relieve traffic issues that have stemmed from the bridge collapse, such as rush hour congestion hitting the two tunnels that cross the Baltimore Harbor.

​ Orange County Register