As states rethink wildlife management, New Mexico offers a new model

• May 11, 2025

By Alex Brown, Stateline.org (TNS)

For years, outdoors enthusiasts in New Mexico have pushed to overhaul the state Department of Game & Fish — an agency plagued by leadership turnover, funding woes and the scorn of hunters and tree-huggers alike.

Now, state lawmakers have given the agency a new name, a new mission, new leadership and a boost in funding to expand its role. The sweeping law enacted in March puts New Mexico at the forefront of a growing movement to rethink states’ traditional model of wildlife management.

“We came from a place of extreme dysfunction,” said Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, an environmental nonprofit that advocated for the new law. “Now, I truly do believe that we’re going to be a gold standard for wildlife management. Over the next few years. you’re going to see an unbelievable shift.”

New Mexico’s new approach expands the agency’s focus beyond hunting and fishing to protect more species and brings in new funding to reduce its reliance on license sales. Other states are watching closely. Lawmakers across the country have introduced bills to change their wildlife agencies, and many have cited the New Mexico measure as an example of what’s possible.

“That’s the biggest game changer,” said Michelle Lute, executive director of Wildlife for All, a national nonprofit focused on overhauling states’ wildlife governance. “That’s the legislation we’ll be pointing to as a model in future years.”

From Oregon to Utah to Florida, legislators have introduced bills that would overhaul their wildlife agencies’ funding, mission and governance.

While the proposals have had varying levels of success, New Mexico leaders say it took years of coalition-building to get their bill across the finish line. Wildlife advocates expect the issue to earn more legislative attention nationwide in the years to come.

Under the traditional model, state wildlife agencies have largely been funded by the license fees paid by hunters and anglers, plus federal excise taxes on equipment such as guns and fishing tackle. The agencies have focused most of their work on species like deer and trout, prized by the sporting groups that provide their revenue.

In New Mexico, as in most states, the commissions that govern these departments have been appointed by governors. They’re often filled by hunting and fishing guides, ranchers and political donors. Critics say this model results in panels that set policy to protect their economic interests.

Today, many wildlife agencies are struggling to stay afloat as fewer and fewer residents hunt and fish. At the same time, plummeting wildlife populations are compelling agencies to expand their work beyond traditional “game” species. And some wildlife advocates are demanding a new governance model that puts more scientists in charge.

This year, state lawmakers across the country have passed or considered a host of major wildlife management overhauls. Some would expand their agencies’ mission to focus on non-game species. Others would provide new funding streams to take on that additional work. And some would change the makeup of the commissions that dictate wildlife policy.

In New Mexico, lawmakers did all three at once.

The state’s agency had faced numerous problems over the years. Hunters and bird-watchers alike were frustrated with the agency’s leadership. In recent years, several commissioners have resigned or been forced out by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. At times, the panel has lacked enough members to form a quorum.

The agency’s budget was in trouble as well. The state had not raised license fees in nearly 20 years, keeping revenue flat even as inflation made the cost of its work more and more expensive.

“We were having to repurpose money from on-the-ground conservation just to make salary adjustments,” said Stewart Liley, wildlife division chief with the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish. “We were getting to a precarious spot.”

In 2023, lawmakers passed a bill to restructure the agency’s commission, which would have taken some power away from the governor. Lujan Grisham declined to sign the bill, killing the effort with a pocket veto.

This year, lawmakers took a bigger swing. The package passed this session renames the Department of Game & Fish to the Department of Wildlife. It expands the agency’s authority to protect non-game species in need of conservation help.

“We wanted to make it clear that this is our state wildlife agency, and it’s the only one we’ve got,” said Deubel, of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. “They’ve got a responsibility to work on any species in the state that has conservation need.”

Agency leaders say they were already conducting research and conservation work for non-game species. They viewed that aspect of the bill as a largely symbolic measure that “shined a light” on the need for more restoration work, Liley said. However, the law did provide more explicit authority for the agency to manage insects and regulate the direct “take,” or killing, of certain animals.

The measure raises license fees — a provision supported by many hunting and fishing groups — and allows for inflation-based adjustments in future years. Meanwhile, lawmakers included another $10.5 million from the state budget, spread over three years, to help the agency take on more non-game conservation.

“It seemed only fair that if we were going to ask the department to take on a broader role that they not finance that just through hunting and fishing,” said Democratic state Rep. Matthew McQueen, who was among the key sponsors.

Liley, the agency official, said the new money, along with a separate conservation fund established in 2023, will more than double the state’s investment in helping threatened species. The agency expects to hire up to eight new biologists who will conduct research, determine which species need aid and lead restoration efforts.

“This will help us get a better grasp of where we are with different species across the state,” he said. “There are absolutely projects we have not undertaken because of lack of capacity. This will allow us to do more surveys, to radio-mark birds, to [use that research] and say, ‘Let’s do forest restoration this way for pinyon jays.’”

The package will also change the agency’s governance. The current commission has seven seats, all appointed by the governor. Lujan Grisham’s appointees have included a car dealer, an Exxon Mobil lobbyist and a former lawmaker who owns an oil and gas business.

Under the new model, a bipartisan legislative committee will nominate three candidates for every seat, each of whom must be vetted to demonstrate their knowledge of wildlife. The governor must choose from among those three. One of the seats will be reserved for a wildlife scientist, one for a conservationist, one for a hunter and angler and one for a rancher or farmer.

“These changes add expertise and really important perspectives to the commission,” said Chris Smith, wildlife program director with WildEarth Guardians, an environmental nonprofit. “Our [current] commission was having structural problems and light scandal almost consistently.”

Backers’ one disappointment is that Lujan Grisham used a partial veto to strike a provision that would have protected commission members from dismissal by the governor. She argued that the proposed change relied too heavily on the slow-moving court system to remove commissioners, making it difficult to hold problematic members accountable.

Lawmakers say they’re still intent on protecting agency leaders from the governor’s whims, but pleased the rest of the package has gone into effect. While the measure passed with bipartisan majorities, some lawmakers objected to the idea of expanding the agency’s mission to protect species beyond those that can be hunted.

“With all due respect, I don’t want to pay for a butterfly,” said Republican state Rep. Harlan Vincent, according to KUNM. “I’m just being honest with you.”

And some groups are skeptical that the extra funding from the state budget will be enough to cover the agency’s growing conservation role.

“If New Mexico wants to expand the mission of the department, New Mexico needs to pay for it,” Tom Paterson, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, said during a Senate committee hearing. “The necessary funds should not come on the back of the license fees that hunters and anglers pay.”

While the agency’s new funding and mission are now in place, its name change to the Department of Wildlife won’t take effect until next year. And its current commission will remain in office until Jan. 1, 2027. Lujan Grisham’s successor will then appoint new commissioners under the revised model.

The advocates who backed the New Mexico overhaul say it will take time and investment to make the new model work. They know other states will be watching closely.

Stateline reporter Alex Brown can be reached at abrown@stateline.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Honey, sweetie, dearie: The perils of elderspeak

• May 11, 2025

By Paula Span, KFF Health News

A prime example of elderspeak: Cindy Smith was visiting her father in his assisted living apartment in Roseville, California. An aide who was trying to induce him to do something —  Smith no longer remembers exactly what — said, “Let me help you, sweetheart.”

“He just gave her The Look — under his bushy eyebrows — and said, ‘What, are we getting married?’” recalled Smith, who had a good laugh, she said. Her father was then 92, a retired county planner and a World War II veteran; macular degeneration had reduced the quality of his vision, and he used a walker to get around, but he remained cognitively sharp.

“He wouldn’t normally get too frosty with people,” Smith said. “But he did have the sense that he was a grown-up and he wasn’t always treated like one.”

People understand almost intuitively what “elderspeak” means. “It’s communication to older adults that sounds like baby talk,” said Clarissa Shaw, a dementia care researcher at the University of Iowa College of Nursing and a co-author of a recent article that helps researchers document its use.

“It arises from an ageist assumption of frailty, incompetence, and dependence.”

Its elements include inappropriate endearments. “Elderspeak can be controlling, kind of bossy, so to soften that message there’s ‘honey,’ ‘dearie,’ ‘sweetie,’” said Kristine Williams, a nurse gerontologist at the University of Kansas School of Nursing and another co-author of the article.

“We have negative stereotypes of older adults, so we change the way we talk.”

Or caregivers may resort to plural pronouns: Are we ready to take our bath? There, the implication “is that the person’s not able to act as an individual,” Williams said. “Hopefully, I’m not taking the bath with you.”

Sometimes, elderspeakers employ a louder volume, shorter sentences, or simple words intoned slowly. Or they may adopt an exaggerated, singsong vocal quality more suited to preschoolers, along with words like “potty” or “jammies.”

With what are known as tag questions — It’s time for you to eat lunch now, right? — “You’re asking them a question but you’re not letting them respond,” Williams explained. “You’re telling them how to respond.”

Studies in nursing homes show how commonplace such speech is. When Williams, Shaw, and their team analyzed video recordings of 80 interactions between staff and residents with dementia, they found that 84% involved some form of elderspeak.

“Most of elderspeak is well intended. People are trying to show they care,” Williams said. “They don’t realize the negative messages that come through.”

For example, among nursing home residents with dementia, studies have found a relationship between exposure to elderspeak and behaviors collectively known as resistance to care.

“People can turn away or cry or say no,” Williams explained. “They may clench their mouths shut when you’re trying to feed them.” Sometimes, they push caregivers away or strike them.

She and her team developed a training program called CHAT, for Changing Talk: three hourlong sessions that include videos of communication between staff members and patients, intended to reduce elderspeak.

It worked. Before the training, in 13 nursing homes in Kansas and Missouri, almost 35% of the time spent in interactions consisted of elderspeak; that share dropped to about 20% afterward.

Furthermore, resistant behaviors accounted for almost 36% of the time spent in encounters; after training, that proportion fell to about 20%.

A study conducted in a Midwestern hospital, again among patients with dementia, found the same sort of decline in resistance behavior.

What’s more, CHAT training in nursing homes was associated with lower use of antipsychotic drugs. Though the results did not reach statistical significance, due in part to the small sample size, the research team deemed them “clinically significant.”

“Many of these medications have a black box warning from the FDA,” Williams said of the drugs. “It’s risky to use them in frail, older adults” because of their side effects.

Now, Williams, Shaw, and their colleagues have streamlined the CHAT training and adapted it for online use. They are examining its effects in about 200 nursing homes nationwide.

Even without formal training programs, individuals and institutions can combat elderspeak. Kathleen Carmody, owner of Senior Matters Home Health Care and Consulting in Columbus, Ohio, cautions her aides to address clients as Mr. or Mrs. or Ms., “unless or until they say, ‘Please call me Betty.’”

In long-term care, however, families and residents may worry that correcting the way staff members speak could create antagonism.

A few years ago, Carol Fahy was fuming about the way aides at an assisted living facility in suburban Cleveland treated her mother, who was blind and had become increasingly dependent in her 80s.

Calling her “sweetie” and “honey babe,” the staff “would hover and coo, and they put her hair up in two pigtails on top of her head, like you would with a toddler,” said Fahy, a psychologist in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Although she recognized the aides’ agreeable intentions, “there’s a falseness about it,” she said. “It doesn’t make someone feel good. It’s actually alienating.”

Fahy considered discussing her objections with the aides, but “I didn’t want them to retaliate.” Eventually, for several reasons, she moved her mother to another facility.

Yet objecting to elderspeak need not become adversarial, Shaw said. Residents and patients — and people who encounter elderspeak elsewhere, because it’s hardly limited to health care settings — can politely explain how they prefer to be spoken to and what they want to be called.

Cultural differences also come into play. Felipe Agudelo, who teaches health communications at Boston University, pointed out that in certain contexts a diminutive or term of endearment “doesn’t come from underestimating your intellectual ability. It’s a term of affection.”

He emigrated from Colombia, where his 80-year-old mother takes no offense when a doctor or health care worker asks her to “tómese la pastillita” (take this little pill) or “mueva la manito” (move the little hand).

That’s customary, and “she feels she’s talking to someone who cares,” Agudelo said.

“Come to a place of negotiation,” he advised. “It doesn’t have to be challenging. The patient has the right to say, ‘I don’t like your talking to me that way.’”

In return, the worker “should acknowledge that the recipient may not come from the same cultural background,” he said. That person can respond, “This is the way I usually talk, but I can change it.”

Lisa Greim, 65, a retired writer in Arvada, Colorado, pushed back against elderspeak recently when she enrolled in Medicare drug coverage.

Suddenly, she recounted in an email, a mail-order pharmacy began calling almost daily because she hadn’t filled a prescription as expected.

These “gently condescending” callers, apparently reading from a script, all said, “It’s hard to remember to take our meds, isn’t it?” — as if they were swallowing pills together with Greim.

Annoyed by their presumption, and their follow-up question about how frequently she forgot her medications, Greim informed them that having stocked up earlier, she had a sufficient supply, thanks. She would reorder when she needed more.

Then, “I asked them to stop calling,” she said. “And they did.”

The New Old Age is produced through a partnership with The New York Times.

​ Orange County Register 

How much could you cut spending? Economic concerns have some Americans setting a ‘no-buy’ rule

• May 11, 2025

By Lane Gillespie, Bankrate.com

Spend any time on FinTok (the personal finance corner of TikTok) and you may have heard of a “no-buy” month, which is a budgeting challenge to not spend money on certain discretionary purchases for a month. Whether you eliminate one spending category in particular or cut discretionary spending altogether, the point of a no-buy challenge remains the same: less spending, more saving.

As Americans try to rework their budgets amid today’s economic challenges, such as inflation and stagnant wages, people are taking on variations of no-buy challenges to save more and change their spending habits. These challenges come in a broad spectrum: While some people are just cutting a few expenses to free up room in their budget or are simply trying to spend less, others are taking the more dramatic route by cutting nearly all spending for a year.

Kelci Crawford, a 35-year-old in Toledo, Ohio, is one such person. Crawford has sworn off spending throughout the entirety of 2025, except for bills (such as rent and utilities), groceries, replacements of needed items (such as shampoo) and a limited amount of mutual aid for friends and community members. They won’t be spending any additional money on discretionary purchases.

Crawford, a full-time freelance artist whose yearly income is below the federal poverty line, has a goal to reach their target $3,000 emergency savings fund this year and pay off a little less than $1,000 of business and personal debt. After looking at their budget last year, they realized they couldn’t afford to keep spending on discretionary purchases if they wanted to meet their goal.

“I caught myself (overspending), and I’m like, OK, I’ve got to do a hard reset. I’ve got to do a no-buy year,” Crawford says.

While cutting out all discretionary spending entirely for a whole year may guarantee you some extra savings by December, it’s not realistic for most people. Cutting out discretionary spending entirely is a major change, and cutting out toys, electronics and activities may be especially difficult for families with children. That’s why many people doing a no-buy challenge are adapting it to meet their own budgetary needs — choosing to cut out only some spending categories where they think they’re overspending, such as eating out, clothing or beauty items.

No-buy challenges are proving popular as many Americans say their savings need a reset. Nearly half (43 percent) of Americans would borrow money to pay for a major unexpected expense (such as $1,000 for an emergency room visit or car repair), according to Bankrate’s Emergency Savings Report. Without that sufficient savings cushion, a small emergency could lead to big consequences, such as being unable to pay your bills — which is also a concern for many people. About 1 in 3 (34 percent) workers are living paycheck to paycheck, meaning they have little to no money left for savings after covering monthly expenses, according to Bankrate’s Living Paycheck to Paycheck Survey.

While the no-buy challenge isn’t for everyone, as Americans report low savings and as the cost of living continues to increase, creative solutions like a no-buy challenge may be just what some people need to stay the course in today’s economy.

Americans are adapting the no-buy challenge to fit their needs

Iris Ayala, a 27-year-old content creator in Chicago, has adapted the no-buy trend to meet her own goals. To cut down on clutter and unnecessary spending, Ayala made a long list of items she won’t be buying in 2025, including makeup, athletic clothing, new technology, hair tools, hair care and reusable water bottles. So far, she estimates she’s saved about $5,000.

“I moved into a new place, and naturally, when you move you declutter things you don’t need anymore. I looked around and I just had a ton of junk,” Ayala says. “That’s what really inspired my no-buy year, because I’m looking at all these items I was buying just nonchalantly, and it’s all just money, in the end, that I threw away.”

A no-buy challenge may save you money, but there’s no guarantee that it will break an overspending habit in the long run. Without taking more steps towards a permanent mindset shift, it could be easy to fall back on old habits and revenge spend when the year’s up.

But four months in, Ayala feels that the challenge has permanently changed the way she approaches spending. Before, she felt she was buying too many unnecessary items based on online trends or because she saw them advertised on social media, not because she actually needed them. Now, thanks to the challenge, before buying something, she’s more mindful about whether she’s going to use the entire product and if she’s going to get her money’s worth.

“I’ve found a lot of benefits that aren’t just financial,” Ayala says. “My wallet is feeling a difference, for sure. I didn’t realize how much unnecessary spending I was doing, now that I’m a no-buyer. But I noticed just having less clutter has been good for my mental health.”

Money tip: If you’re curious about doing a “no-buy” challenge, try cutting discretionary spending for one week per month, or one month per year. But take the time to examine your spending habits and understand why you’re spending the way you are, so you can avoid “revenge spending” as soon as the no-buy is up.

The economy is incentivizing some to cut spending

Many Americans are doing a no-buy challenge now because of macroeconomic concerns. High inflation, high credit card interest rates, stagnant wages, new tariff policies and widespread federal layoffs in 2025 have made it more appealing to focus on saving over spending.

Peter Cohan, an associate professor of practice in management at Babson College, breaks the appeal of the no-buy trend into two categories: economic and psychological. From an economic perspective, many Americans are worried about how the state of the economy will impact their finances. Economists say there’s a 36 percent chance the U.S. will enter a recession by March 2026, according to Bankrate’s Economic Indicator Survey. Between a possible upcoming recession and the high prices Americans are facing today, some people feel it may be smart — or even necessary — to dramatically pull back spending.

Meanwhile, psychologically, when someone has no control over trade policy or inflation, choosing to spend less may also give them a sense of control over their finances, according to Cohan.

“From my perspective, (there are) a lot more people feeling a great loss of control of their lives since the beginning of the year,” Cohan says. “One thing they certainly still control is how they spend whatever money they have.”

Ayala, for one, is going to put that extra money she saved towards her emergency savings fund. Currently, she has about six months of expenses saved, but she says due to today’s economic uncertainty, she wants to increase that by at least a couple of months.

“I feel like we’re uncertain about things, even grocery prices,” Ayala says. “Everything at the moment is just up in the air with the political and economic landscape at the moment. Having that (cushion) gives you a little more peace of mind and alleviates some stress.”

Meanwhile, Crawford is concerned the Trump administration’s tariffs will affect their small business. A major portion of Crawford’s yearly income comes from selling art prints, books and merchandise at fan conventions, but the paper they use is imported from Canada and the acrylic goods they use are imported from China. If those items are affected by tariffs, it could affect the supply and cause prices to skyrocket, which could affect Crawford’s bottom line, they say.

“I’m not sure how (the Trump administration) is going to affect me in the future,” Crawford says, “so I’m just trying to hedge my bets and stick with the stuff that works.”

No-buy 101: How to take control of your spending

If you’re interested in doing a no-buy year or just interested in cutting back on spending over a certain time period, these tips can help you get started.

1. Consider if a no-buy challenge is right for you

No-buys will definitely save you money, but putting restrictions on your spending overnight is a significant challenge. A no-buy challenge might be best for you if you’re on a tight budget and are looking for creative ways to save money. Or, if you’re concerned about your spending and are looking for a way to change your financial habits, a no-buy can buy you some time to consider the reasons behind your spending and change your mindset. You can start over with a clean slate when the no-buy is over.

If you’re just looking to free up a bit of room in your budget, but aren’t interested in making a major lifestyle change, consider other ways of cutting basic costs, like unsubscribing from unused subscriptions, shopping for groceries using coupons and price-matching or cutting spending on brand-name goods.

2. Identify your goals

If you’re looking to save money this year, it might help to set a specific savings goal. Doing so would focus your efforts around a tangible benefit and motivate you to keep going.

“Change is hard, and saying no to certain habits is difficult,” Melinda Opperman, chief external affairs officer at Credit.org, a nonprofit credit counseling organization, says.

Common goals that she sees in her work are:

• paying down debt, such as $5,000 in credit card debt or $10,000 in student loans.
• saving for a $30,000 down payment on a home.
• increasing your employer’s 401(k) match to the $23,500 yearly maximum.
• saving for a $15,000 new car.

Opperman also suggests announcing your goal and intention to save more money publicly, so your friends and family can help keep you accountable. That extra (positive) peer pressure can be the push you need to get you over the hump and meet your goals.

3. Avoid temptations

Social media is a great tool to stay connected with your friends, family and favorite online creators, but it’s also a great way to be bombarded with ads encouraging you to spend. Help keep spending to a minimum by decluttering your phone and making it harder to spend money online. You can do that by:

• deleting the apps to your favorite stores.
• unsubscribing from store texts and emails.
• considering the 48-hour rule. After putting an item in your online cart, wait 48 hours before hitting “Buy.” That gives you time to decide if you really want to buy the item, or if you’re just impulse shopping.
• using social media app settings to control what accounts show up on your feed.
• curating your social media feeds to only show you people you’re following — not suggested content.

4. Utilize your savings to the fullest extent

Once you’ve begun spending less, you’ll need somewhere to put those funds. Consider a high-yield savings account (HYSA) or certificate of deposit (CD), both of which can give you a higher rate of return on your savings than a typical savings account.

• HYSA: HYSAs are similar to standard savings accounts, but pay a higher yield on your money — often four times as much. An HYSA can be a great way to keep your savings readily accessible, and it’s low risk if it’s kept in an FDIC-insured bank.
• CDs: Unlike HYSAs, which you can access quickly, CDs lock your funds for a set period of time in exchange for a guaranteed annual percentage yield (APY). That APY is often much higher than a traditional savings account. A CD term can last anywhere from around a month to 10 years, though three months to five years is more common.

Key takeaways

• As Americans reckon with high prices, “no-buy” challenges, which swear off most discretionary spending, have become popular online.
• No-buy challenges are designed to help people re-examine their spending habits and save more money.
• To optimize your own no-buy challenge, it’s important to identify why you want to do the challenge, eliminate spending temptations and pick a savings account with a high annual percentage yield (APY).

©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Have your legal documents kept up with life changes?

• May 11, 2025

A general rule for how often you should review your will, trust, powers of attorney, and health care directive, is every three to five years. But that’s not the only time.

Your estate planning documents should reflect your life circumstances. So, when circumstances change, it’s time to look at those documents again.

If you’ve been out of the workforce and are now returning, it’s time to review your estate planning documents and consider a few other items as well.

Beneficiary designations

If your new employer offers a retirement plan and/or life insurance, you’ll be asked to complete forms to designate a beneficiary. Make sure you coordinate this decision with your estate plan.

If you have minor children, you may need to discuss with your advisors whether you want to name a trust as the beneficiary so that a trustee can manage the assets for your children.

If you have a spouse who is not the parent of your children, you will need to discuss with your advisor how best to handle the beneficiary designation so that you take care of the parties you mean to be providing for.

Health care directive for minors

If your children will be in daycare or you have a friend or family member watching them while you’re at work, you’ll want to be certain you have a health care directive for minor children in place. As the parent, you’ve been making health care decisions for your minor child all along.

You make appointments, have discussions with health care providers, decide on vaccines, and approve (or disapprove) medical procedures. But what if you’re not available?

If you’re incapacitated, whether temporarily or permanently, or unreachable, someone else will need to be the health care agent for your children. You can name that person — or better yet persons — in a health care directive for minor children. It also helps to list the names and contact information for their health care providers.

Perhaps you have such a document, but did you name the person who will now be the caregiver for your child as you return to work? Check those documents.

Power of attorney and directives

Whether working or not, every adult should have a power of attorney document in place that designates a party to act on your behalf if you should lose capacity. In addition, you should have a Health Care Directive designating a party to make health care decisions for you if you are not able. Make sure these documents are current and reflect the choices you’d make today.

Your risk of becoming incapacitated isn’t necessarily higher because you’ve returned to work (well, depending on your job), but since you’re starting fresh and making changes in your life, be sure to include this review and update as well.

Will and trust

Is your new job going to increase your net worth? Will you have a new savings or checking account, perhaps a new retirement plan? These are all reasons to once again review your will and trust. You may have made decisions about your assets and beneficiaries at a time when your assets were quite different than they are now or will be in the future.

Likewise, your beneficiaries — whether that’s your children, your spouse, or perhaps friends or charities — may have changed. You may see things differently. And certainly, if you’re returning to work due to the death of a spouse or a divorce, you’ll want to be sure your will and trust is updated to suit your current circumstances.

Social Security

There are many issues to consider with respect to social security and how rejoining the workforce might affect benefits. How can you increase the monthly benefit you will eventually be entitled to? What portion will be taxable when you do begin receiving benefits?

What effect will your new paycheck have on your current benefits? When would be the best time to begin receiving Social Security? Be sure to discuss these options with your advisor and be sure you’re implementing the best plan for your new circumstances.

Employment agreement

If you’re given an employment agreement as part of your new job, please consider having an attorney review the agreement for you. California laws are generally favorable to employees, and you don’t want to be waiving rights you might otherwise have.

Congrats on that new job! But there’s a little more work to do at home, too.

Teresa J. Rhyne is an attorney practicing in estate planning and trust administration in Riverside and Paso Robles, CA. She is also the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “The Dog Lived (and So Will I)” and “Poppy in The Wild.”  You can reach her at Teresa@trlawgroup.net

​ Orange County Register 

Trump budget goals that target senior programs could spark backlash in Orange County

• May 11, 2025

Tens of thousands of lower-income seniors in Orange County stand to lose federal money that helps them meet some basic needs – food, housing, job training – if the Trump administration’s preferred 2026 federal budget becomes law.

One proposed change to a federal initiative known as Commodity Supplemental Food Program could hit about 25,000 local lower-income seniors. Right now, those people get a 32-pound box filled with items like cereal, canned soup and peanut butter each month. It’s unclear how or if those boxes will be delivered under the administration’s proposed replacement plan.

Other proposed cuts to federal housing programs could affect all of the estimated 45,000 people in Orange County who currently tap federal dollars to help pay their monthly rent. About half of those people are 60 or older.

And an initiative that aims to help lower-income seniors earn money so they rely less on the government – the Senior Community Service Employment Program – would be eliminated entirely. That program, according to the Trump plan, “is effectively an earmark to leftist DEI promoting entities like the National Urban League, the Center for Workforce Inclusion and Easter Seals.”

None of the proposed changes are set. The White House memo is a wish list, and details of the budget will need to be passed in the GOP-controlled Congress, probably this summer.

But political experts, nonprofit workers – even an older voter who describes himself as a Trump supporter – all say the White House and its supporters should be wary about that wish list. They say local politicians who support those cuts, and politicians who don’t do much to stave them off, risk walking into a political trap that’s snared others in the past: the ire of voters of a certain age.

“Older people might be ready to get fired up,” said Jimmy Camp, a longtime political consultant in Orange who has worked with candidates across the political spectrum.

“The conditions for it are there, for sure.”

While the White House budget would trim everything from school lunches to clean water projects, many of the groups linked to those programs have little influence in GOP politics. Young children can’t vote, and their parents tend to vote for Democrats. Homeless people are infrequent voters. Climate scientists, physicists, entrepreneurs seeking federal health or research grants – all are relatively tiny voting blocs.

But seniors?

“People my age, we vote,” said John Deal, an 81-year-old retired steel industry executive in Irvine.

“And we don’t forget.”

Tribal politics

Older voters aren’t monolithic.

In November, nationally, voters ages 50 to 64 were far more likely to back Trump than were voters ages 65 and up, according to a post-election survey by AARP.  The middle-age cohort chose Trump (56%) over Kamala Harris (43%), while the 65-and-up crowd split their vote, with 49% going to each candidate.

It’s unclear if that pattern held in Orange County, where 2024 vote results by age group aren’t yet publicly available.

What is clear is that, politically speaking, local older voters tend to punch above their weight. Though people older than 65 account for about 17% of the county’s population, they’ve accounted for closer to 25%, or more, of all votes cast in recent elections.

It’s part of a long-term pattern. About 41% of county voters age 65 and up are so-called high-propensity voters, meaning they routinely turn out for most elections, according to Political Data Inc., which tracks voting trends in California. By comparison, about 27% of local voters ages 50 to 64 qualify as high propensity, something that’s true of 18% of voters age 35 to 49 and only 13% of voters 18 to 34.

All that means one thing: Older voters have the ability – and, according to Camp and others, the propensity – to respond to any perceived political slight by punching back.

“(Older voters) are more affected personally by the things that affect their whole group,” Camp said.

Deal, an older voter who identifies as a Trump supporter, agrees. He believes proposed spending cuts that touch lower-income older people could prompt a political response from local seniors of all economic means.

“Look, I voted for Trump. I don’t necessarily love him, personally, but I support his ideas,” said Deal, who noted that he doesn’t tap into federal programs targeted by the White House but does use Social Security and Medicare.

Taxes, Deal said, “should be lower.” And, in his view, federal spending “goes too far” on social programs.

“But I play cards with people who feel differently. And I can see they’re already getting active, going to their (anti-Trump) marches and whatnot.

“I bet these issues about federal programs will be pretty important for all the people running for Congress or even mayor.”

If federal programs are cut, and if there is a political backlash, it might be sparked more by facts on the ground than by age-oriented identity politics, say people who work with seniors and locals who work on the programs targeted by the White House.

“The (Commodity Supplement Food Program) is used by people 60 or older, who qualify income-wise. It’s for everybody. And it’s in every community, from La Habra to San Clemente, and it largely follows Orange County demographics, with the exception that recipients are slightly more likely to be Asian and Pacific Islander than the county as a whole,” said Mark Lowry, director of Orange County Food Bank, which administers the Commodity Supplemental Food Program in Orange County.

“But all of the people who get those boxes need to get them,” Lowry added.

“It’s income-vetted and, I can tell you, it isn’t a luxury item.”

The 55-year-old program, initially launched as a way to boost agricultural interests, is now only for people 60 and older whose income is 150% or less of the local poverty rate. In Orange County, the monthly income thresholds to qualify for a food box are $1,957 for one person and $2,644 for a couple. About 109,000 people in California and roughly 707,000 around the country get food each month through the program.

Though the White House wants to end the current food box program – saying it has been “misused for DEI and logrolling,” using terms that refer to diversity programs and political favor-swapping – it also hints at replacing it. The memo pitches the idea of using somebody other than nonprofits to deliver “MAHA food boxes,” referring to the federal “Make America Healthy Again” moniker. The memo adds that the boxes should go directly from farms to needy seniors.

But the White House memo also claims the switch would result in a $425 million savings for taxpayers. That number doesn’t include any cost that might be needed to come with a new distribution network for a new type of food box.

In a letter he wrote to other food bank operators who administer the food box program in counties around the country, Lowry suggested the White House proposal – if the administration is sincere about wanting to keep issuing food boxes – might actually result in taxpayers paying more in order to feed needy seniors.

“The Administration claims a $425 million savings by eliminating CSFP,” Lowry wrote. “They provide no cost, however, related to their alternative for MAHA food boxes. The Administration proposes to substitute non-profits who engage volunteers who assemble CSFP food boxes with for-profit companies who will pay employees to package MAHA food boxes. It is reasonable to assume that the Administration is proposing a more costly model that will provide no savings for taxpayers.”

That pattern holds in other safety net changes suggested by the White House. Though the memo says taxpayers would save $163 billion, overall – even when mixing in spending increases for defense and immigration enforcement – there are no cost estimates for proposed replacements mentioned for at least some of the safety net programs.

“The numbers don’t necessarily make sense,” Lowry said.

“Some of this seems like it might backfire.”

Surviving scrutiny

The backfire argument – the idea that budget cuts to social programs might actually mean a bigger tax bill rather than a smaller one, and that cuts to social spending would be a drag on the overall economy – is already part of the pushback that’s emerged in the days since the White House posted its budget memo.

“Safety-net programs do much more than just alleviate individual hardships. They are economic engines… ” wrote Orange County Supervisor Doug Chaffee, chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, in a May 7 letter to Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, whose CA-40 district includes parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties.

In the letter, Chaffee urged Kim to vote against any cuts to the federal food program SNAP (which was once known as Food Stamps and in California is known as CalFresh), and school-based nutrition programs. He referenced federal research that shows every $1 spent in SNAP benefits generates $1.80 in economic activity, and that every $1 billion spent by taxpayers to boost the SNAP program supports more than 13,000 jobs.

Kim also nudged further into the political pushback against White House budget priorities. Last month, she was one of a dozen GOP House members who signed a letter saying they won’t back steep cuts to Medicaid, an issue that could hamstring the push to reduce taxes and lower the budget, or risk taking health care and health insurance away from millions of lower-income Americans.

And on May 8, Kim’s office issued a video showing her (gently) grilling Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over proposed cuts to the Community Development Financial Institution, a program that provides credit and financial services to underserved communities.

Part of their exchange went like this:

Rep. Kim: “I’d like to urge you to continue your support for CDFI. CDFI Fund programs are statutory, as you know, and this has been critical in promoting the local economy in Orange County. Do you still agree that the CDFI plan has a critical role to play in fostering economic opportunity?”

Secretary Bessent: “We believe that if CDFI officials follow their statutory obligations and do not digress into more ideological boundaries, they can be important institutions.”

What went unmentioned was the fact that the White House wants the program cut.

In its budget memo, the administration said it would end the CDFI program, in part because it believes that past CDFI grants “may have made race determinant of access to loan programs …  and framed American society as inherently oppressive rather than fostering unity.”

But the biggest financial argument against the cuts might be about federal housing programs, particularly in Orange County and particularly as they relate to older people.

The White House projects that taxpayers would save around $34 billion if the federal government ended or trimmed a variety of federal housing programs. That’s a huge number. But senior advocates say those cuts almost certainly would mean more homelessness, and that numerous economic studies have shown that homelessness is, among other things, far more expensive than housing assistance.

“The programs that they’re talking about cutting were set up for a reason. And even though there’s a lot of talk about how they’re wasteful or ineffective, when you look closely at what they do, you usually see something different. They work,” said Trinh Phan, director of state income security issues for Justice in Aging, a nonprofit that offers legal help to senior organizations.

“Cutting rent subsidies will result in more people on the streets. It’s simple,” she added.

Already, the fastest growing demographic in Southern California homeless shelters is people ages 50 and older. And if housing vouchers go away, homeless retirees, as they’re often known, could become common in Orange County.

That, Phan said, will inspire a political response from older voters.

“We’re already seeing a rise in senior homelessness. And that’s a very public issue; people see the homeless and it affects them,” Phan said. “And, beyond the morality of it, it’s much more expensive to try to help someone who is unhoused than it is to make sure they don’t become unhoused in the first place.

“That could wake a lot of people up.”

​ Orange County Register 

In wake of L.A. fires, lawmakers jockey to sweeten firefighter pensions

• May 11, 2025

A parade of barrel-chested firefighters and police officers lined up, scores deep, at the microphone. Yes! they said, over and over again. Give public agencies the power to sidestep pension reforms and sweeten our retirement formulas!

One could almost hear the tinkle of coins draining from the public purse.

Critics might have mistaken this Sacramento hearing for one of those post-9/11 love fests — the ones where elected officials fell all over one another to dramatically, enthusiastically and (critically) retroactively hike pension formulas to demonstrate their support for first responders’ dangerous work. That retroactive bit meant that they promised money for past work that they had never set aside in investment accounts — engaging in fantastical thinking that the increases would magically pay for themselves thanks to a booming stock market.

HA! They didn’t. California has dug itself a pension hole some $352 billion deep instead, and the dramatically higher pension set-asides that public agencies are now saddled with — trying to fill that hole — gobble up nearly 1 of every 5 dollars from some city budgets. That, in turn, crowds out services to residents.

But alas, there was no mention of the depth of the current pension hole at this April hearing on Assembly Bill 1383 by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Hawthorne. Much like its cousin AB 569 by Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco, it would free agencies to wiggle around reforms muscled through the Legislature by then-Gov. Jerry Brown more than a decade ago — reforms aimed at taming the explosive growth in public pension liabilities. It would let them, potentially, dig the hole ever deeper.

That’s scary because, even with Brown’s reforms, the hole has yawned wider and wider. That’s because the new rules apply only to new hires, who won’t retire for many years.

McKinnor’s bill would allow public agencies to goose pension formulas for these “new” public safety types (already the most expensive) higher — while at the same time reducing the retirement age, erasing some of the $42 billion to $55 billion savings that Brown said the reforms would eventually provide.

One concession to history: McKinnor’s bill would not apply to past work — only to work going forward. So at least there’s that.

But a bit of history ignored by lawmakers at the hearing, to taxpayers’ peril: the fact that when one, single, wee little agency adopts sweeter formulas, a benefits nuclear arms race begins.

City B says, “We’re losing firefighters/police/etc. to City A because City A has better benefits!” Which leads city B to sweeten formulas. Which pressures City C to do the same to keep its workers, followed by City D, and City E, etc., etc.

Legislators! This is precisely how we got into this hole! It started in 1999 with Senate Bill 400 under then-Gov. Gray Davis (remember him?!), boosting benefits for the California Highway Patrol. That sparked a benefits wildfire that burned through thousands of public agencies in California, costing billions upon billions of dollars. “The single greatest issuance of debt in state history,” it has been called.

So. Here we go again?

Lives or money?

“With each passing year, we learn more and more about how dangerous this profession really is,” Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, told the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee in April.

“Where heart disease used to be the most common affliction for firefighters, it’s now, unquestionably, cancer. … Every day spent on the job means more exposure to deadly, potent carcinogens like diesel fuel, PFAS, asbestos, benzene … there are so many substances that mix with fire that are so toxic to the body that you can’t even name them all. Each day is a cost. A cost we pay for with our lives, a little bit at a time.”

Rice’s organization represents some 35,000 firefighters and emergency medical personnel, and it seemed like most of them were there as he spoke.

“The job is physically and mentally demanding in the extreme,” he said, “and asking us to work until 57 years old is pushing us not just to our limit, but beyond our limit. I don’t want to bury another friend before their time in the name of hypothetical cost savings. And that’s what we’re talking about here. We’re trading firefighters’ and police officers’ lives for money. Period.”

McKinnor feels we owe first responders more. “In Los Angeles, we just had one of the biggest fires we ever had,” she said. “They deserve to have this. I really truly respect these first responders and how they put their lives on the line for us.”

Furthermore, California is experiencing a “crisis of vacancies” in the public sector, she said, and “competitive retirement benefits are critical to ensuring an adequate and well-trained public safety workforce.” This, she maintained, will help fill those slots.

The bill analysis said, “FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.”

Before and after

There was a dispiriting dearth of data presented at the hearing, so let’s do some of that now.

It’s worth noting that only about 4% of emergency calls in California are for fires. The vast majority are for medical emergencies, which generally don’t pose much threat to firefighter life or limb.

And that crisis of public sector hiring? There have indeed been issues with police and medic hiring, but overall, the growth in public sector employment in California has far outpaced population (a 2.1% increase in residents between 2013 and 2023 — while state employment grew 11.4%, county employment grew 12.6%, city employment grew 13.2%, and special district employment grew 18.7%, according to data from the state controller).

Look, public safety folks do hard jobs. We are grateful. But they’re paid well for the risks they take, and their retirements are among the most generous in the land. This is a bit wonky, but stay with us:

Before Brown’s reforms, public safety workers could get 3% of salary for each year worked, as soon as they turned 50 (after 25 years of service, that’s 75% of pay for life).

After Brown’s reforms (known as the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013, or PEPRA), public safety formulas were reduced, with 2.7% at 57 being popular (after 25 years of service, that’s 67.5% of pay for life).

McKinnor’s bill would allow agencies to reintroduce the dreaded 3% formula, but at age 55 rather than age 50.

Firefighters testified that they worry about doing demanding physical work at age 57, so lowering the age to 55 would be helpful.

By age 57, though, many firefighters have advanced into more managerial roles. And absolutely nothing is stopping them from retiring younger! They’d just have to settle for a bit less pension.

And public safety types get nice retirements. Our last spin through California Public Employees’ Retirement System data showed that, while the average pension for all retirees and their survivors/beneficiaries was about $38,000 a year, public safety types averaged $64,279. It was even higher for police and firefighters who worked for cities (as opposed to the state), averaging $75,125.

Granted, many of those folks retired under the more generous pre-PEPRA formulas. But even post-PEPRA, California’s retired public safety workers won’t be heading to the welfare office or applying for food stamps — one of the stated rationales behind McKinnor’s bill.

Naturally, the bill is passionately supported by California Professional Firefighters and Peace Officers Research Association of California, its co-sponsors, as well as firefighters from all over the state.

Opponents? The organizations that employ them and foot much of the bill, including the League of California Cities, California Special Districts Association and California State Association of Counties.

Protecting retirement?

“My son is currently in the fire academy. … Let me tell you, I bleed red and blue,” said Lisa Murphy, assistant city manager of Salinas. “I’m here to protect my son’s retirement, as well as of all the firefighters who were here earlier testifying.”

McKinnor’s bill threatens to reverse years of critical pension reforms designed to protect the long-term viability of retirement systems, she said. PEPRA was carefully planned “to stabilize a system on the brink of unsustainability,” largely due to the generous retirement enhancements granted during the 2000s. Returning to that benefit structure would severely compromise the future health of the pension systems — as well as the financial stability of the cities, counties and agencies that must pay into them.

“I commend the author’s intent … however, salary remains the most influential factor in choosing employment,” she said. Increased retirement costs would mean cities fill fewer jobs and struggle to offer competitive wages and health care benefits.

“More alarmingly, it could undermine the very retirement system our employees are counting on to be there in their future. Given the current economic uncertainty, this proposal is especially risky. PERS recently suffered a loss of $15 billion due to market volatility, costs that will inevitably be passed on to cities with shrinking revenues and increasing expenses. Now is not the time to increase the financial burden on local governments.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Bob Nelson, Santa Barbara County supervisor.

McKinnor’s bill “rolls back hard-won reform and reinstates benefit formulas we already know are unsustainable,” he said. “In the 1990s and 2000s, similar pension packages nearly bankrupted the state and many local municipalities. We don’t need to test them again. We’ve lived with the consequences.”

Since 2010, Santa Barbara County has paid over $100 million in additional payments annually to stabilize its retirement system. Those sacrifices brought the funded status of its pension system from 62% to 87% — but at real cost, including reductions to public safety staffing and fewer resources to address mental health, homelessness and criminal justice reform, he said.

Reminder: Public pension payments are guaranteed. If investment earnings don’t provide enough to cover them, California taxpayers must make up the difference.

“AB 1383 would boost pensions for safety employees without requiring sufficient funds to be set aside to meet those promises,” David Crane, a lecturer in public policy at Stanford University and president of Govern For California, said by email. “That is the same lethal combination that has already crushed CA governments.”

Los Angeles already spends 18% — $2 billion — of its budget on retirement costs, Crane wrote, and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget shows the state spending $18 billion on the same in 2026 — twice what it spent a decade ago, and 10 times more than in 2000.

Aye

But pesky stats like that did not enter the conversation, much less sway the enthusiastic, bipartisan and unanimous support for the bill. Committee members jumped to sign on as co-authors.

“It’s not dollars to me,” said Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale. “It’s bodies. It’s people.”

Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, mused that the bill might give his son — in law enforcement under PEPRA — two years of his life back.

Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, marveled as she recounted her recent attempt to maneuver through an obstacle course firefighters had set up to demonstrate their demanding training. “I can’t believe we allow our firefighters to do this ’til the age of 57,” she said. “They need to be protected.”

Tasha Boerner, D-Carlsbad, agreed. “We need to get this done,” she said. “We can’t expect people to physically work themselves into the grave.”

The bill heads to the appropriations committee. Here we go again.

​ Orange County Register 

Sliding mitts are baseball’s ‘must-have,’ even if at youth levels, they’re all fashion, no function

• May 11, 2025

By WILL GRAVES, AP National Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen hasn’t had the conversation with 7-year-old son Steel yet, but the Pittsburgh Pirates star knows it’s probably coming at some point.

Steel, already playing in a youth baseball league, will probably come home at one point and ask his five-time All-Star father if he can have whatever hot item his teammates might be wearing during a given spring.

McCutchen plans to accommodate Steel up to a point. The oldest of McCutchen’s four children is already rocking an arm sleeve, just the way dad does.

Yet if Steel is hoping his father will spring for a sliding mitt — a padded glove a player can slip over one of their hands to protect it should the hand get stepped on while diving headfirst for a base — he probably shouldn’t get his hopes up.

McCutchen, who has stolen 220 bases at the major league level, has never worn one. And he’s quick to point out the next time the cleat of a fielder mashes his hand will also be the first.

Still, the 38-year-old understands. Once upon a time, he was a 20-something who epitomized baseball cool, from his dreadlocks (long since shorn) to his goatee to his rope chain to the occasional skull cap he wore underneath his batting helmet, all of it designed to accentuate McCutchen’s innate blend of talent and charisma.

“It’s all about the drip,” McCutchen said with a smile.

Even if the “drip” (Gen Z slang for stylish clothes and their accessories) emphasizes fashion over function, particularly when it comes to the gloves — which look a bit like oven mitts — that are becoming just as ubiquitous in the Little Leagues as they are in the major leagues.

Safety and self-expression

Former major leaguer Scott Podsednik (career stolen base total: 309) is credited with “inventing” the sliding mitt during the late stages of his 11-year career.

Tired of having his hand stepped on, Podsednik worked with a hand therapist for a solution. The initial mitts were relatively simple. A 2009 picture of Podsednik sliding into second base shows his left hand covered in what looks like a padded modified batting glove, all wrapped in black to match the trim on his Chicago White Sox uniform.

Things have gotten considerably more intricate over the years. Google “sliding mitt designs” and you’ll find themes ranging from the American flag to an ice cream cone to aliens to a poop emoji ( yes, really ).

Scott McMillen, a lawyer in the Chicago area, had no plans to get into the baseball accessory business. He first took notice of sliding mitts when his son Braydon, then 10, pointed out one of his teammates had one and said basically, “Oh hey dad, wouldn’t it be nice if I had one, too.”

They headed to a local sporting goods store, where McMillen was surprised at the variety available.

That was around 2021. By early 2024, McMillen had launched “ Goat’d,” a specialty baseball accessory company with everything from sliding mitts to batting gloves to arm sleeves to headbands and more, many of them religiously inspired.

Sales during their first full year? Over 1 million units.

“We were surprised at how large the marketplace is,” McMillen said.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been.

Youth sports have bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aspen Institute’s 2024 State of Play report noted that the participation levels in sports among children ages 6-17 were the highest they’ve been since 2015. Baseball’s numbers have steadied following a decline. Little League International told The Associated Press last fall that more than 2 million kids played baseball or softball under its umbrella across the world, an uptick over 2019.

Many of those kids are also fans of the game, some of whom may have noticed their favorite major leaguer sporting a mitt when they’re on the bases. Yes, that was San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. sliding across home plate ( feetfirst, by the way ) with a bright yellow mitt on his left hand in the ninth inning of a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh last weekend.

It’s one of the many ways in which the game has evolved over the years. When McMillen grew up, there wasn’t much swag to go around.

“We had our baseball uniform and our glove (and) everyone looked the same, everyone was the same,” he said. “Now, everyone wants to express themselves individually. The best way to do that without acting like a clown is to wear something that shows people who you are.”

Self-expression, however, doesn’t exactly come cheap, particularly in an era when top-of-the-line bats are $400 or more. What amounts to an entry-level sliding mitt can go for $40, but Goat’d and others have versions that can fetch double that.

That hasn’t stopped sales from being brisk, and McMillen points out it’s not merely a luxury item.

“We don’t play football with 1940s safety equipment,” he said. “You feel better in the (batter’s) box when you have something that protects you, right? With a sliding mitt, it’s also like, ‘Hey this is fun. It’s cool. I want to be like my fave high school player, like my favorite college player.’”

It’s becoming increasingly common for McMillen and other members of the company’s staff to spot Goat’d gear at the field. In recent months, they’ve popped up in youth tournaments from Georgia to Las Vegas, sometimes in the back pockets of players as young as 6 or 7. McMillen can’t help but shake his head to see his product become part of the time-honored tradition of kids imitating their heroes.

Which is good for business and, oh by the way, probably unnecessary.

The pressure to keep up

Here’s the thing: In most — if not all — youth baseball leagues, headfirst slides that would require a player to stretch out their hand to secure the bag are illegal.

In Little League, for example, stealing bases for players 12 and under is rare because the player can take off only after the ball has reached the batter. And even if they do bolt for the next base, they have to slide feetfirst. The only times in Little League that a baserunner can dive headfirst toward a base is when they are returning to it while in a rundown or during a pickoff attempt, both of which are also rare.

That doesn’t stop the players from wanting a sliding mitt. It also doesn’t stop their parents from buying them, all part of the pressure to “keep up with the Jones” that has practically been a part of youth sports culture since the first time somebody came to practice with a batting glove or wristbands.

It’s a phenomenon Chelsea Cahill and her family has known for years. The longtime educator who lives just east of Columbus, Ohio, has spent most of the last decade shuttling her three boys from practice to games to tournaments.

What she and her husband have learned over the years is that some trends come and go, but the pressure to have the right stuff remains.

“There’s always that feeling of ‘This is the next new thing’ or ‘This is what you’ve got to get,’” Cahill said.

They appeased their sons up to a point, but only up to a point.

Last summer their youngest son Braxton, then 11, and the rest of the kids on his travel team kept pestering their parents to buy sliding mitts. Entering the final tournament, the team moms decided to give in.

Sort of.

Rather than plop down that kind of money for something they didn’t actually need, the moms headed to a local dollar store and bought them actual oven mitts — the kind used to pull tonight’s dinner from out of the oven. Average retail price? Less than a cup of coffee at the gas station.

Oh, and the kids loved them, and wore them during the game. Cahill posted video of them playing with the mitts stuck in their back pocket to her TikTok account. The video is now at 12 million views and counting.

“They thought it was hilarious, but we didn’t really think they would wear them for the rest of the tournament,” Cahill said. “We were wrong. They really embraced it!”

Among viewers of that TikTok, by the way, were the people at Goat’d, who sent Braxton a couple of mitts as a result.

The good news is, Cahill now won’t have to buy one for Braxton this spring. Yet there’s also something else she has learned through the years: This time in her boys’ lives is fleeting.

For proof, just look at her calendar. Her two older sons — the ones who played travel baseball just like Braxton, and asked for all the cool stuff their teammates had, just like Braxton has — gave up baseball by the time they got to high school.

Her advice to parents who might be feeling the financial pinch of what it takes to play these days: Relax.

“We’ve learned as parents is to stop taking it so seriously,” she said. “They’re kids. Let them have fun.”

The reality

A day after hundreds of members of the Monroeville Baseball and Softball Association marched through the Pittsburgh suburb’s well-appointed community park, the regular season is in full swing.

All four fields are alive with the chatter of coaches, parents and boys and girls aged anywhere from 5-12.

Over on Field 1, the Rays are in the middle of their season opener. Playing first base, Josiah Jones has his glove at the ready, with a black sliding mitt noticeably sticking out of his left back pocket.

Per the league rules, the Rays and the other players at the “Bronco” level (ages 11-12), play actual full-on baseball. They can take leads and steal bases whenever they like, though headfirst slides are only allowed when returning to a base, just like in Little League.

Longtime MBSA executive commissioner Josh Plassmeyer is milling about, trying to keep tabs on everything. Plassmeyer outlawed sliding mitts on his son Grant’s 10-and-under tournament team, calling them a “distraction” because players would spend so much time fiddling with them once they got to first base, they would miss signs from the third-base coach.

About 50 feet away, Jones settles into the box and rips a ball to left-center field. His long legs carry him past first base, and he cruises into second with an easy double.

As his teammates erupted in the dugout, Jones beamed for a brief moment. Then, as the opposing pitcher stepped onto the rubber, he took an aggressive lead off second and eyed third.

His back pocket, the one where his sliding mitt had been 30 minutes before, was empty.

​ Orange County Register 

Mother’s Day: Surf mom inspired by daughter to create a community supporting surfer girls

• May 11, 2025

Jamie Clinard remembers what it was like growing up a surfer girl in San Clemente — wanting to ride waves, but so intimidated as the only girl among the boys that she found herself stuck on dry land, her fears keeping her from paddling out.

She quit surfing for decades.

But when her daughter, Maddie, got a surfboard for her fifth birthday and fell in love with the waves, Clinard found herself back in the lineup with a renewed passion. Her long-lost love for surfing was back, and was now something mother and daughter could share.

What she has found out in the water with her daugther, now 11, was what she was missing in her own childhood experience — the bonding while sitting on boards waiting for waves, cheering each other on while taking “party waves” next to each other and other surfer girls, all hooting for each other as they celebrate the thrill of the ride.

“It’s the absolute best thing in the world,” said Clinard, 42, of surfing alongside her daughter. “Something I love about surfing, there’s not a lot of sports kids can play that parents can do with them. It’s fun to look over and see your daughter and her friends, we like to take party waves. We all go out together, it’s really special.”

Surfing alongside her daughter is such a special feeling, it’s what she has planned for Mother’s Day — the simple gift of riding waves together, with plans to hit Doheny State Beach in Dana Point for the afternoon.

“I’m hoping we’ll get awesome waves and hoping we’ll be out there all day,” Clinard said. “I just want to be out there with my girl, as long as I can. And I want a party wave, of course.”

Her rekindled love for surfing has brought a wave of change to her life. Clinard left her practice as a therapist to create a surf brand and now a retail shop, All Swell Surf, to give young surfer girls what she didn’t have growing up — a place they can find a community, be inspired by other female surf icons and be role models for the next generation.

“I really wanted something different for her — I wanted to create a space that really encourages people to push past their fears,” Clinard said.

All Swell Surf opened in September and has been making waves in the surf world, a unique take on a surf shop that is all about the sisterhood of surfers, a space with girl-power messaging splashed throughout.

All Swell Surf has become a gathering place where speakers encourage the next generation, where girls can gather to watch female-inspired surf films or just be part of a tribe. Champion surfer Joyce Hoffman, a ‘60s-era pioneer who helped pave the way for female surfers, was one of the speakers who jumped on board to encourage young surfer girls during a recent event at the store. 

“She’s so cool. She’s still so spicy. You just love her,” Clinard said of Hoffman. “She acts like it’s no big deal. … It makes you realize we build things up in our head and it doesn’t have to be that intense. It doesn’t have to be that scary — just do it.”

They had a mom-and-daughter movie night showing “Girls Can’t Surf,” with San Clemente twin sisters Jolene and Jorja Smith — who very much can surf — featured in the film, also speaking to a crowd at the shop.  

On a recent day, Clinard hosted the shop’s first “Wave Maker” sponsorships, handed out to three young surfers – Willow Brennan, 9, Brooklyn Betsy Bannan, 8, and Camryn Kalea Mills, 13 – who were picked not because of their surf skills, but because of how they support and encourage others.

Surf sponsorships typically focus on competitions, which pit girls against one another, Clinard said.

“It gives us a culture of competition. At All Swell, we really wanted to switch things up and do things differently,” she said. “This is a ripple in the water of possibilities. It’s a big step forward in changing the game for surfing and for our girls.”

Every three months, another three girls will be selected, the previous “Wave Makers” becoming mentors to the next group, a way to build up the community of surfer girls.

“We believe true surf heroes are not just the ones out there landing all the tricks, but the ones out there building up the girls, who are out there making friends in the lineup and choosing kindness every time,” Clinard said.

Each girl’s mother said a few words about their daughter during the ceremony. Shannon Bannan talked about Brooklyn’s heart of gold and how she started pushing her into waves at just 6 months old.

“Not only does she just try so hard in everything she does, she has fun doing it. She encourages friends to come along with her and she’s a great teacher,” said Bannan, from San Juan Capistrano. “She makes friends wherever she goes.”

Willow Brennan, of Dana Point, said her favorite part of surfing is “party waving with all my friends.”

Mom Jocelyn Brennan said her daughter is the first person to volunteer to watch the smaller kids so the moms can get out in the water.

San Clemente surfer Camryn Kalea Mills’ mom, Shannon, recalled how when her daughter was about 3, she would stretch her arms out to the ocean and scream “I’m in love!”

“She’s always looking for the one who is not included,” her mom added. “She’s looking for the girl who needs a friend.”

It wasn’t just the moms in the crowd talking about how proud they were of their surfer girls.R.C. Mills, Camryn’s dad, choked back tears after the ceremony. The 56-year-old talked about how growing up, there were hardly any girls in the water. Back then, there wasn’t much acceptance of girls in the water, the way there is now.

“Now, girls are everywhere enjoying the surf,” he said. “As they should be.”

The overall message Clinard wants girls to receive when they walk into the shop: You don’t have to be an amazing surfer to be called a surfer. You just have to enjoy it, and there’s a sisterhood that will cheer you on.

“Even if you are barely standing up, that counts and you should be allowed to be there, too,” Clinard said. “This shop was made as a space for all women and girls who enjoy the ocean, who rip at surfing in a really good way or people who are just learning and looking for a place to be encouraged and seen.”

Girl-power vibes can be found throughout the shop. A hat signed by world champion surfer Caroline Marks, who lives in the coastal town, is on display.  A surfboard signed by Bethany Hamilton is on display.

There’s jewelry made by 10-year-old surfer girls, candles that read “surf like a girl,” as well as bright, eye-catching custom clothing made specifically for the shop. A T-shirt reads “Pipeline is for the girls,” a play on a declaration made by Oceanside surfer Caitlin Simmers after she won a big event at the Hawaiian surf break.

A few days ago, Clinard held an event inviting daughters to make custom seashell-decorated frames to give to their moms for Mother’s Day.

“My dream, my goal, is to build a sisterhood of women and girls who love to surf. And to have our shop be the place where people come to meet others,” Clinard said. “It’s never been about the clothing, it’s always been about the community.”

While Clinard’s inspiration to create the shop was her daughter, Maddie Clinard said her mom is now creating something “really cool” that inspires others.

“To be honest, I never thought of a girls’ surf shop. Now that it’s here, it’s my favorite thing,” said Maddie, who often joins her mom at the shop and wears a shark mascot costume to make customers smile. “I think I’m really proud of my mom for making these girls so happy. I think that inspires them to keep doing it.”

​ Orange County Register