Fall Fun at South Coast Botanic Garden

• October 13, 2023

South Coast Botanic Garden embraces the untraditional year-round, and fall is no different. There are no pumpkins or scary decor, but there is plenty of fall fun to be had. So, grab a sweater, put on your walking shoes, and head to this oasis located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. And with 87 acres to explore and the West Coast premiere of Thomas Dambo’s TROLLS: Save the Humans, you’ll want to set aside a few hours for your visit.

As one of the first botanic gardens to be built on a sanitary landfill, South Coast Botanic Garden is a testament to land reclamation. Staying true to its original mission, it regularly hosts exhibits that are not only immersive in nature but have strong conservation messages. TROLLS: Save the Humans is a whimsical exhibit from renowned Danish artist Thomas Dambo featuring massive trolls made of reclaimed wood. Dambo, recognized across the globe for his stunning, large-scale artwork from recycled materials, creates trolls to reconnect people with nature. In this exhibit, the trolls are here to “save the humans” and divert them off the path of destroying Mother Nature. Dambo gets his message across with whimsical, folklore-style storytelling.

Speaking of whimsy, the exhibit also includes Ibbi Pip’s Playhouse in which more than 150 colorful birdhouses are hung from the ceiling. Human-sized nests are ready to welcome guests for the ultimate photo moment. Once you exit the Playhouse, you’ll follow the trail of birdhouses to the Garden’s new concessions station, Dottie’s. Now open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Monday, guests can grab a latte, beer, wine or one of the Garden’s new craft cocktails to sip on while continuing to explore, or take a seat and order a bite to eat from the new botanic-inspired food menu. If you’re looking for a fall beverage, The Old Orchard – made with bourbon, Angostura bitters, spiced apple, Luxardo, and topped with a dried apple slice – is highly recommended.

Later in fall, you’ll be able to take your beverage to Sakura Meadow where the large oak trees will lose their leaves during the colder months. Kids can enjoy playing in the pile of leaves while parents take in the scenery. Guests can also enjoy fall blooms like the large Ceiba speciosas (floss silk trees) and seasonal plantings. While the Garden’s new Pollination Garden has been full of colorful wildflowers, it will be replanted with native plants this November creating a new experience for guests.

With so much to see, taste and touch, you’ll want to make sure you also tap into your sense of smell during your visit. The Osmanthus fragrans (sweet olive) planted along the Upper Meadow gives off large wafts of ripe apricots and Hedychium coronarium (butterfly ginger) produces white fragrant blooms.

The Garden is located just 30 minutes from Downtown L.A., but you’ll forget you’re in the middle of a bustling metropolitan area during your visit. Don’t miss fall in the Garden, get your tickets at scbgf.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, Oct. 13

• October 13, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, Oct. 13

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

FRIDAY’S SCORES

BOYS WATER POLO

NORTH VS. SOUTH CHALLENGE

Sacred Heart Prep 18, Laguna Beach 13

Cathedral Catholic 15, Santa Margarita 11

JSerra 21, Menlo 6

GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL

NONLEAGUE

Orange Lutheran 40, Villa Park 0

​ Orange County Register 

Dana Point spends $62k to study making mechanical transportation to Strand Beach more reliable

• October 13, 2023

A Swiss-manufactured cliffside cable car that was supposed to make it easier for the public to get down to Strand Beach in Dana Point has been spotty in its ability to carry passengers over the years.

Recently, the Dana Point City   Council awarded a $62,000 contract to a consulting firm that will evaluate the vehicle installed for the funicular system in 2016 after the first car, which began service in 2008, also fell into disrepair. A topographic survey will be done from which an elevator company will then consider alternatives to the funicular’s present design, city staffers said in a recent report to councilmembers.

The vehicle, which travels along a staircase down to the beach, was installed as part of a development agreement with Sanford Edward for the Headlands Development and Conservation Plan in 2008. At that time, Edwards, the project’s developer, said he selected the Swiss company because the vehicle would be the Mercedes equivalent of cable cars.

But since the first one was installed, the service has been unreliable. The council in 2014 approved a $680,000 replacement project after officials noted the cable car was showing signs of wear in the corrosive marine environment.

When replacing the first vehicle, the city used Inauen-Schätti AG – the same Swiss manufacturer Edward had commissioned – because the rails and other infrastructure were already in place.

Related links

New cliffside cable car to Dana Point’s Strand Beach debuts
Half of Dana Strand Beach parking lot closes for rest of summer
Dana Point residents say unrestricted beach access compromises their security
Dana Point begins process to allow retractable gates at Strand Beach
Strand Beach access gates are removed after 6-year fight

In 2019, the city hired a contractor for routine maintenance, but it was determined the materials used in the vehicle had eroded so badly due to the environment that the car was “unreliable for public use.” The company hired then has been unable to make repairs to keep the funicular operational, officials said.

The mapping survey – expected to take a couple of months to return to the council with results – will measure exact elevations, officials said, which will help inform options for what possibilities exist to move people up and down, including no longer using the present system.

​ Orange County Register 

UAW: No more factories to strike, but more walkouts could be coming

• October 13, 2023

The United Auto Workers union isn’t adding any factories to those that are now on strike, but its president says more walkouts could begin at any moment.

Until this week the union had been announcing additional factories on Fridays. But UAW President Shawn Fain told workers in a live video appearance that the companies started gaming the system, waiting until Fridays to make progress in bargaining.

“We will be calling out plants when we need to, where we need to, with little notice,” Fain said on Friday morning. “We’re not sticking to one pattern or one system of giving these companies an extra hour or an extra day. They know what needs to happen and they know how to get it done.”

Fain said the union is still bargaining hard with General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis. But he criticized Ford, which said Thursday that it had reached the limit of how much money it will spend to settle the strike.

“I found a pathetic irony in that statement,” Fain said, adding that it’s workers who have reached their limits by not getting raises for a decade and giving up what he called retirement security.

His statements came four weeks after the union began its walkouts against the Detroit automakers on Sept. 15.

The strikes started with one assembly plant from each company. The union later added 38 parts warehouses at GM and Stellantis, and then one assembly factory each from Ford and GM. The UAW then made a surprise move on Wednesday, escalating the strikes by adding a huge Ford pickup truck and SUV plant in Kentucky.

About 33,700 workers are on strike against the companies. Analysts say parts supply companies, especially smaller ones without a lot of cash reserves, will be squeezed as the strikes goes on.

The head of Ford’s combustion engine vehicle unit said Thursday that the company had reached its limit for the amount of money it will spend to reach a deal with the union.

Kumar Galhotra, president of the Ford Blue business unit, told reporters Thursday that the company stretched to get to the offer it now has on the table that includes a 23% pay raise over four years and other benefit increases.

“We have been very clear we are at the limit,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “We risk the ability to invest in the business and profitably grow. And profitable growth is in the best interest of everybody at Ford.”

The company has a set amount of money, but is willing to move dollars around in a way that might fit the union’s needs, Galhotra said, adding that he still thinks it’s possible to reach a deal.

But Fain told workers Friday that the union added the Kentucky plant after Ford presented an economic offer Wednesday with no more money than a proposal from two weeks ago.

“Ford thought they could wait until Friday morning and then just make a better offer. They stopped being interested in reaching a fair deal now and only became interested in gaming our system of announcing strike expansions on Friday,” Fain said. “They thought they figured out the so-called rules of the game. So we changed the rules.”

Fain added that the Kentucky truck plant strike is sending a “very clear message” to Ford — as well as GM and Stellantis.

The union began the strike by targeting a small number of plants from each company rather than have all 146,000 UAW members at the automakers go on strike at the same time.

Last week, the union reported progress in the talks and decided not to add any more plants. This came after GM agreed to bring joint-venture electric vehicle battery factories into the national master contract, almost assuring that the plants will be unionized.

Battery plants are a major point of contention in the negotiations. The UAW wants those plants to be unionized to assure jobs and top wages for workers who will be displaced by the industry’s ongoing transition to electric vehicles.

​ Orange County Register 

Rams WR Puka Nacua learning to work in tandem with Cooper Kupp

• October 13, 2023

THOUSAND OAKS – The comparison has been running rampant since Rams rookie receiver Puka Nacua broke out at the start of the season. It’s only gotten stronger as he continued to put up big numbers, then didn’t show any letdown after Cooper Kupp’s return.

Nacua, the comp goes, is in the Robert Woods role.

Kupp and Woods were a formidable duo early in the former’s career, each gaining over 1,000 yards in 2019 and nearly repeating the feat in 2020. Nacua is filling a similar role for the Rams in 2023, playing the same position as Woods and providing toughness and versatility as Woods did. He even wears Woods’ No. 17.

But make the comparison to head coach Sean McVay, and he grows serious.

“Robert Woods is one of my all-time favorites, one of the best competitors that I’ve ever been around. He did so many different things for us,” McVay said. “You start putting guys in that kind of category, that’s a big mantle to be able to put on. But [Puka] is a guy that can fulfill a lot of the roles. I want to continue to see him take steps in the right direction, which, I love what he’s done and he’s all about the right stuff. He and Robert are special types of players, and they’re few and far between.”

Nacua can see the similarities, too. As the Rams install plays, they play tape from a few years ago to get an idea of how defenses will react and the timing of routes. And he sees Woods in his current role in the offense, showing physicality and energy, two characteristics that Nacua prides himself on.

But he also sees someone who understands how to work in tandem with Kupp.

“It helps because he’s somebody that’s moved with Cooper Kupp, you can see the tempo and the pace that they need to move with,” Nacua said. “There’s an urgency to it, for sure.”

When you think of chemistry in football, the connection between quarterback and receiver likely comes to mind first, or an offensive line and running back working in tandem in the run game.

But a receiving corps needs to build its own rapport, too. They need to understand the routes their counterparts are running — their destination, and the path they will take to get there – so that each route complements and sets up the other, rather than interferes.

Kupp is a stickler for such things, and has worked with Nacua on understanding that spacing and how it changes depending on the looks the defense presents.

For instance, during a practice, Kupp motioned as the slotback behind Nacua. He told the rookie what the coverage was before the snap.

“The ability for me to determine before I’m like actually into my route, oh, the defense is playing this, I can get outside on this route, I’m just going to clear the way,” Nacua explained. “Coop is super big on alignment, making sure every yard before the ball’s even snapped matters. If you need to work a certain type of leverage, if you need to slip him inside, all those yards matter.”

It’s something that will evolve over the course of the season, even after the duo debuted with a combined 15 receptions for 189 yards against the Eagles.

But Kupp can see the similarities between his new running mate and his one of old.

“It is something kind of cool about that seeing 17 back out in the field again,” Kupp said. “I mean their games are real similar, slasher mindset, physical, tough mentality. All that stuff is there.”

Waiting game

McVay and his wife Veronika Khomyn are expecting their first child this month, and McVay confirmed on Friday that if the baby boy is born on a game day he will leave to be by his wife’s side.

“It hasn’t quite hit me yet. He’s active right now and it seems like he’s ready to come at any moment,” McVay said. “What a blessing that’ll be and what an amazing job my wife Veronika has done in terms of handling the pregnancy. She’s a stud.”

Injury report

Linebacker Ernest Jones (knee), right guard Joe Noteboom (groin) and defensive tackle Larrell Murchison (knee) are all listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

The Book Pages: Wimpy Kid’s ‘No Brainer’ library support tour is coming

• October 13, 2023

Imagine a game show where kids and librarians are the big winners – and instead of lifetime supplies of Turtle Wax, they can score free books and support for local libraries.

Well, it’s happening, and you can take part.

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” author Jeff Kinney is celebrating the publication of “No Brainer,” his 18th book in the series, with a traveling game show that will visit 13 bookstores along the West Coast and provide books, financial support and some getaways for lucky librarians.

Kinney is personally donating $100,000 and dividing it among local libraries along his tour. He’ll also be driving a customized “No Brainer”-wrapped van dubbed “The Wimpy Wagon.”

“It’s a wrapped, customized Sprinter van that feels like a party bus inside,” says Kinney, who spoke with me by phone and follow-up messages. “Getting honks and waves from people in passing vehicles always adds a lot of excitement and energy to the tour.”

After starting off at San Diego’s Mysterious Galaxy, Kinney will appear on the book’s publication day, Oct. 24, at an event for {Pages} a bookstore at the El Segundo Performing Arts Center. He’ll eventually finish up the tour on Washington state’s Bainbridge Island at Eagle Harbor Book Co. (a lovely bookstore I’ve visited).

“Kids are going to have a chance to win money for their school library or their community library. At each tour stop, we’re going to be spotlighting a beloved local librarian,” says Kinney, who asked 10 publishers to donate a range of diverse books – and they all agreed.

“We’ve got hundreds of books to give away,” he says.

Third grade student Rhuanma Leiva, 8, reacts as she draws while Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, looks on at Commonwealth Avenue Elementary School and Commonwealth Gifted Magnet Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The whole extravaganza sounds fun, but it also came out of Kinney’s desire to support the work of some of the book world’s most important people.

“Libraries are really suffering and librarians are at the frontline of the culture wars, and so we thought it would be a good idea to celebrate libraries and librarians on this tour,” he says. “The prize money actually goes to local libraries.”

Kinney, whose books are said to have sold more than 275 million copies around the world, says that his books have occasionally been challenged, but he’s much more concerned that books by people of color and the LGBTQ community are being targeted.

“My books have been banned here and there but it’s not that prevalent. What I’m really worried about are underrepresented authors whose works are being banned,” he says.

“It’s just so important that everybody’s voices are heard. We’re living in a time where empathy is really in short supply, and books are really unique in that they can provide a window into another person’s mind – and so I think book banning is a form of erasure. Part of my goal on this tour is to make sure we’re getting books into the hands of kids who really need to discover those books.”

The author, who owns a bookstore with his wife in Plainville, Massachusetts, and hosts a diverse roster of author events, also has an international tour planned that will take him to Germany, the U.K. and India, where he’s also popular. His work has been translated into 69 languages.

“It’s really cool, because it suggests to me that there’s a common thread between us, which is our shared childhood experiences. I think I’ve been to 35 countries now,’ he says with recent trips to Sweden, Peru and Columbia.

“You know, kids are the same everywhere.”

For more information, go to wimpykid.com

Third, fourth, and fifth grade students react as they listen to Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, during his visit at Commonwealth Avenue Elementary School and Commonwealth Gifted Magnet Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Turning pages in Twentynine Palms

The sun sets behind joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Park Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Twentynine Palms, Calif.(File photo by Ben Margot, AP)

There’s an old bumpersticker slogan that used to ask the question, Where the hell is Twentynine Palms?

Well, pardon the language, but among its other delights, that’s where you’ll be able to see and hear writers Maggie Downs, Tod Goldberg, Barbara Gothard, Alexandra Martinez, Ruth Nolan, Ivy Pochoda, Deanne Stillman, Claire Vaye Watkins and more.

My colleague David Allen alerted me to all of this in his piece about the first-ever Twentynine Palms Book Festival, a free, one-day event Oct. 28 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Learn more at 29pbf.com.

• • •

Read any good books lately that you want to tell people about? Email me at [email protected] with “ERIK’S BOOK PAGES” in the subject line and I may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.

And if you enjoy this free newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone who likes books or getting a digital subscription to support local coverage.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

David L. Ulin on the virtues of an open-shelf policy

David Ulin is the author of the “Thirteen Question Method.” (Photo credit Noah Ulin / Cover courtesy of the Outpost19)

David L. Ulin has written or edited nearly 20 books, including “Sidewalking: Coming to Terms With Los Angeles,” “Ear to the Ground” and his latest novel, “Thirteen Question Method.” Ulin, who has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim, Lannan and Ucross foundations, is books editor for Alta Journal and a Professor of English at University of Southern California where he edits the literary magazine Air/Light. He will be appearing with Ivy Pochoda at Skylight Books tonight, Friday, Oct. 13.

Q. What are you reading now?

I’m always reading a lot of different things, or looking to read a lot of different things, and I find this material in all sorts of different ways. I read an essay recently, for instance, by Yiyun Li, in which she mentioned a short story, “Silver Water,” which appears in Amy Bloom’s collection “Come to Me.” Bloom is a writer I admire, but I haven’t read this book. Now I will. As for what I’m currently reading: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “A Man of Two Faces,” Jamel Brinkley’s “Witness” (savoring the stories one at a time), Walt Whitman’s “Specimen Days” (for a project on which I am working), Amy Kurzweil’s “Artificial.” I’ve also just finished Daniel Guebel’s “The Jewish Son,” a remarkable short book inspired by Kafka’s “Letter to the Father,” which I then went back and re-read. For me, one book leads to the next and then to the next in a chain of conversation. It is one of the things I love best about making a life out of language and narrative.

Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?

Robert A. Heinlein’s “Red Planet,” which was published in 1949 and which I read in 1968 at the age of 7. It’s one of Heinlein’s books for juveniles, as he described them, and it takes place at a boarding school on Mars. As a kid in the late 1960s, I was, of course, fascinated by the space race, and by the Apollo missions; one of the first things I remember writing was a composition about the Apollo 7 mission when I was in second grade. That was part of the appeal of the Heinlein to me, since it takes place in a future where space exploration is common. But equally important was the book as object: a small hardcover, not unlike the books I saw my father read. Simply holding it in my hand felt like being initiated into something, like I was a real reader in some essential way. If, to paraphrase Saul Bellow, all writers start as readers in emulation, then this is a key access point not only to my life in reading but to my life in writing, as well.

Q. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life – a teacher, a parent, a librarian or someone else?

I feel like this is a good place to acknowledge my parents, who – both in their own ways – helped create a space for me to read and write. As for the former, my father has always been, and remains, an active daily reader, with a large library that I was encouraged to plunder as a kid. There were no rules or restrictions to his library; I was allowed to read whatever caught my fancy. Call it an open-shelf policy, if you will. Sometimes that led to what the current flock of puritan book banners in the schools and legislatures might call inappropriate reading, which, I want to argue, is entirely the point. If you want to be a reader, you need to confront work that is beyond you, work that makes you uncomfortable, that provokes your sensibilities. This is something I try to activate in my writing also, to challenge assumptions, to ask difficult or provocative questions, to disrupt in the best and most fundamental sense of the word. If you’re not going to shake it up, what’s the point? I do not read or write to be reassured. As far as my mother, she was a former English teacher who edited every composition I ever wrote in grade school, a process that – I will admit – I hated in the moment. But now, I see, she taught me the mechanics of how to write and revise.

Q. What do you find the most appealing in a book: the plot, the language, the cover, a recommendation? Do you have any examples?

For me, it’s point of view. That’s the only thing I really care about, the voice, the perspective, the take on the world. Language, of course, is a big part of that – but language alone is not enough. We’ve all read gorgeous sentences or paragraphs that don’t say anything, that exist as elements of an author’s self-regard. I want language that is beautiful, not least because it is in service to, or conversation, with the take, the argument, the set of questions at the center of a piece of writing, that becomes a driver of its point of view. Plot, for me, is overrated; it’s really just a scaffolding on which to hang the interesting material, which is always that which expresses the inner life. When I teach, I often refer to the relationship between what I call the overstory and the understory: the former is the plot, which keeps a reader moving through the narrative, and the latter is the emotional life of the narrative, which is another way of saying: point of view.

Q. What’s something about your book that no one knows?

As a writer, I love games, particularly structural games. I often create a set of rules I have to follow. A number of years ago, for example, I wrote a series of weekly essays chronicling my 53rd year – there were 53 of them, and in the drafting, at any rate, they followed a sequence of word counts: the first essay was 1961 words long, since that was the year I was born, and each subsequent essay was one word longer than the one that preceded it, until the cycle was complete. I should note that, in revision, I discarded the word count structure, but it was useful in allowing me to conceptualize the sequence. I got the inspiration for all this from a couple of sources: the French writers of the Oulipo group, who often worked under self-imposed restraints, and, of course, the Situationists, with their notions of psychogeography and the derivé. In the case of “Thirteen Question Method,” I wanted to work with the number thirteen as an essential framing mechanism. As a result, the novel is comprised of thirteen chapters, each of which contains thirteen pages. I like the superstructure that this offers, both in the process of writing (it’s always useful for me to have some guardrails) and in the experience of reading the text.

More on books, authors and bestsellers

20 books we’re looking forward to in the fall and winter of 2023. (Covers courtesy of Grove, Scribner, Doubleday, Riverhead, One Word, Liveright, Knopf, Harper)

Books we can’t wait to read

20 books we’re looking forward to reading in the fall and winter of 2023. READ MORE

• • •

“KAOS Theory” is by Ben Caldwell (center) with Robeson Taj Frazier (right). (Courtesy of “KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell by Robeson Taj Frazier with Ben Caldwell, published by Angel City Press)

Theory and practice

How Ben Caldwell and Robeson Taj Frazier’s ‘KAOS Theory’ project came to be. READ MORE

• • •

“The Fraud” by Zadie Smith is the top-selling fiction release at Southern California’s independent bookstores. (Courtesy of Penguin Books)

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

• • •

Bookish (SCNG)

What’s next on ‘Bookish’

On the next installment Oct. 20 at 5 p.m., Amy Ferris and Chuck Palahniuk join host Sandra Tsing Loh and my colleague Samantha Dunn to talk about their new books. Sign up for free now.

And if you missed it (or just want to relive it), watch the previous Bookish with Lee and Tod Goldberg and Jesus Trejo.

• • •

Sign up for The Book Pages
Miss last week’s newsletter? Find past editions here
Dive into all of our books coverage

​ Orange County Register 

Biden speaks with families of Americans unaccounted for in Israel

• October 13, 2023

Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden on Friday spoke with the families of the Americans who remain unaccounted for in Israel after promising to speak with family members of those who are held hostage by Hamas.

National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told reporters that Biden &#“;conveyed directly to these families that they have been in his prayers and we affirmed for them that the United States government is doing everything possible to locate and bring home their loved ones.&#”;

The call was led by special presidential envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens, Kirby said.

&#“;Several of the family members shared information about their loved ones – personal stories and experiences that they have gone through as they endure this, quite frankly, unimaginable ordeal,&#”; Kirby said.

In a clip of an interview with CBS&#’; &#“;60 Minutes&#”; that aired Friday, Biden promised to speak with the families.

&#“;I think they have to know that the president of the United States of America cares deeply about what&#’;s happening. Deeply. We have to communicate to the world (that) this is critical. This is not even human behavior. It&#’;s pure barbarism,&#”; Biden told CBS&#’; Scott Pelley in a clip of a &#“;60 Minutes&#”; interview that was released Friday morning.

He added: &#“;We&#’;re going to do everything in our power to get them home if we can find them.&#”;

Fourteen Americans remain unaccounted for, and the White House believes &#“;less than a handful&#”; are being held hostage by Hamas following this weekend&#’;s attacks, Kirby has said.

The US is in &#“;direct communication&#”; with Israeli counterparts and the families, Kirby told CNN&#’;s Poppy Harlow on Friday morning.

&#“;The families have been a good source of information because some of them, you know, they saw their loved one being abducted or they know they&#’;ve seen images of their loved one being abducted. So they have been a significant and an important source of information as well,&#”; Kirby said Friday.

But, he added, &#“;We just don&#’;t have enough information to develop any specific policy options one way or the other.&#”;

US offering Israel assistance

The US is offering Israel hostage recovery expertise, with FBI and Pentagon personnel on the ground providing support.

Diplomatic efforts to recover the hostages are also underway, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken currently traveling in Qatar, which CNN has reported is among the countries in talks with Hamas over hostages.

Kirby noted to CNN on Thursday that it is a &#“;common tactic in the Hamas playbook to break up hostages and move them in rounds in sometimes small groups,&#”; though the US has not confirmed whether that is the case.

FBI hostage negotiators and agents, some working in Israel and others in field offices around the US, have been assisting in the efforts, according to US law enforcement officials involved in the matter.

These include members of the FBI&#’;s Critical Incident Response Group, which has extensive experience in helping to resolve hostage incidents, including in war zones from Afghanistan to Iraq and across the Middle East. Negotiators and agents are talking to family members, getting proof of life information that can be used in the investigation and for possible questions to be asked if hostage-takers reach out.

Earlier this week, Biden pledged the full force of his administration&#’;s commitment to rescuing hostages, saying that while &#“;we&#’;re working on every aspect of the hostage crisis in Israel,&#”; if he relayed in detail what steps the administration was taking, &#“;I wouldn&#’;t be able to get them home.&#”;

&#“;Folks, there&#’;s a lot we&#’;re doing – a lot we&#’;re doing. I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home,&#”; Biden said. &#“;But the idea that I&#’;m going to stand here before you and tell you what I&#’;m doing is bizarre, so I hope you understand how bizarre I think it would be to try to answer that question.&#”;

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

​ Orange County Register 

Ask a travel nerd: 3 steps to booking holiday travel

• October 13, 2023

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

With holiday travel, I’ve always been a Grinch. Paying too much for airfare rubs every cell in my body the wrong way. Shelling out $1,000 for a domestic round-trip ticket for a route that usually costs half that just feels wrong, you know? So, while I’m happy to travel the world the other 49 weeks of the year, I typically try to stay home at the end of November and December.

For years I’ve waged a campaign within my family to observe Thanksgiving a week or two early. Shifting our calendar slightly would mean we could all feast together without all the headaches of holiday travel. So far my campaign has, well, failed.

I’m slowly coming around to the idea that holiday travel is important for a reason. Yes, it’s inconvenient. Yes, airports are clogged with screaming kids (including, now, mine). And yes, it’s just plain expensive. But it’s about something bigger than budgets — it’s about family.

OK, my small Grinchy heart hasn’t grown big enough to ignore price tags altogether. I still try to spend as little as possible when traveling for the holidays, even if it’s more expensive than a regular trip. Here’s how I think about it.

Step 1: Book right about … now

Recently, it’s been hard to know when is the right time to book holiday travel. The pandemic messed with how and when people traveled, leading experts to disagree about when airfare prices would be lowest.

Those data wrinkles have been ironed out, and now the picture is coming into focus. The best time to book mid-to-late December travel is right now — about 10 weeks before departure, according to a recent report from Google Flights. That’s true for domestic flights as well as those to Europe.

That’s right, despite what your high-strung parents might have told you, booking months in advance doesn’t actually save money. According to data from Hopper, a travel booking platform, prices for December trips have dropped about $40 since this summer. But they won’t drop much longer: After bottoming in October, Hopper expects fares to rise rapidly through November and by as much as $40 per day in the week leading up to the holidays.

Another factor that could affect airfare prices moving forward: Fuel costs. After bottoming early this summer, oil prices have been on the rise. This could put even more pressure than usual on prices for holiday travel.

All the more reason to book soon.

Step 2: Travel when others won’t

Everyone wants to know the secret to scoring cheap airfare during the holidays. The secret is that there is no secret: Prices are high throughout Thanksgiving week and the last two weeks of December, period.

Even using points and miles doesn’t always help. In fact, based on a NerdWallet analysis of hundreds of airline routes, booking award travel during the holidays usually yields a lower cent-per-mile value than booking award travel at other times.

Put simply: Using miles during the holidays is not a good way to avoid high prices. You’ll just spend a ton of miles rather than a ton of cash.

There’s really just one option: Do something inconvenient that other travelers are unwilling to do. Options include:

Booking on the holidays themselves. Hopper estimates that flying on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day can save about $114 per ticket on domestic routes, for example.
Taking a long trip. Flying the Monday of Thanksgiving week and returning any weekday of the following week can save you over $100 on flight costs, according to Hopper data.
Pitching a new holiday for your family in early December, when airfares are low. This has a roughly 0% success rate, according to my own data.

Step 3: Consider total costs

It’s easy to get hyper-focused on airfare costs around the holidays and do everything possible to avoid high fares, even if it means an overnight layover at LAX or extending your trip to three weeks.

But airfare is only one of many travel expenses during the holidays. It might sound great to save $100 per ticket by leaving a few days early, but what about the additional costs of the trip?

For example, if you’re not staying with family, two days of lodging costs will easily eliminate (and potentially exceed) those airfare savings. And then there’s the pet sitter, the restaurant dinners you might buy to avoid another awkward meal with your family, etc.

The point is, the sticker shock of $1,000 fares in December can cause some people (OK, me) to find elaborate workarounds, but the workarounds can end up costing more in real dollar terms, or mental health expenditures. Do you really want to stay on a futon for three weeks?

Grinching pennies

You could be a Grinch like me and avoid holiday travel altogether. Or you could book travel willy-nilly and accept whatever ludicrous fares are available.

Better to take a middle road: Being cost-aware without getting lost in the weeds. Book travel in October if you can, avoid the absolute peak dates and consider traveling when others won’t, like Christmas Eve. Keep total travel costs, including accommodations and pet sitter in mind and remember that airfare isn’t everything.

Most of all, focus on what matters: Connecting with family.

But not, you know, too much.

The article Ask a Travel Nerd: 3 Steps to Booking Holiday Travel originally appeared on NerdWallet.

​ Orange County Register