8 things to know about LA’s new Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva

• February 22, 2025

Los Angeles has a new leader at the helm of its fire department: Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva, who was announced Friday by Mayor Karen Bass as Kristin Crowley’s replacement.

Villanueva retired just seven months ago after more than four decades with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Before his retirement, he served as Chief Deputy of Emergency Operations. Now, he returns to oversee the department on an interim basis.

“I am humbled by your confidence in me,” Villanueva said at the press conference announcing his appointment. “I’ve spent 41 years at the Los Angeles City Fire Department, working alongside the finest fire professionals in the world. Leading them is an honor of a lifetime.”

He pledged to the mayor, firefighters and the people of Los Angeles that the department would remain ready to serve, saying, “the Los Angeles City Fire Department will respond, and the Los Angeles City Fire Department will keep you safe.”

Here are some things to know about the new chief:

1. He is a veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Before becoming a chief officer, Villanueva spent 24 years in the field at active assignments. He joined the LAFD in 1983 and rose through the ranks, serving in various leadership roles, including battalion chief, assistant chief, and Deputy Chief of the LAFD South Bureau, which covers the southern region of Los Angeles, stretching from Mid-City to the Port of Los Angeles.

His special duty assignments included serving as Captain at Drill Tower 89, Battalion Chief in the Community Liaison Office, and Assistant Chief in Homeland Security and the Port of L.A.

2. He is from San Pedro and studied at local schools.

Villanueva grew up in harbor area community and attended San Pedro High School, Los Angeles Harbor College, and California State University Long Beach.

3. He aimed for a leadership role — and pursued higher education to prepare.

In 2022, Villanueva graduated from the Executive Master of Leadership (EML) Program at the University of Southern California. In a Facebook post where USC introduced new students, Villanueva shared that he joined the program to further his education and build a foundation for pursuing other interests—potentially even politics—after retiring from the LAFD.

4. He enjoys staying active and family time.

Outside of work, Villanueva loves spending time with his family, exercising and playing golf.

5. He has been a mentor and educator throughout his career.

Villanueva has dedicated time to mentoring the next generation of firefighters, serving as an Explorer Post Advisor at Fire Station 2 and Fire Station 16.

6. He said his love for the department is the reason he’s coming out of retirement.

“And to all the firefighters, I want you to know, the love that I have for this department is the reason I’m coming back in this capacity,” Villanueva said at the press conference. “I watched last month as you were in the fiercest firefight in Los Angeles history, bravely battling the fires for days on end. I’m grateful to work alongside all of you once again.”

7. His time as chief is temporary.

While Villanueva serves as interim chief, Mayor Karen Bass said her office will lead a national search for a permanent replacement and will speak directly with firefighters and Angelenos about the qualities they want in the next fire chief.

8. There’s at least a small chance that he’d be pushed back out.

According to the City Charter, the mayor has the authority to remove most department heads without City Council approval. However, Crowley has the right to appeal her removal within 10 calendar days.

“The council may reinstate the chief administrative officer by a two-thirds vote of the council,” the city charter says. “Failure of the council to reinstate the chief administrative officer during this time period shall constitute a denial of the appeal.”

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who represents District 7, issued a statement shortly after Bass’s announcement encouraging Crowley to appeal. She also said she will use her authority as a councilmember to “set the record straight,” signaling her support for Crowley’s reinstatement.

​ Orange County Register 

The Whale parade is on pause, but Dana Point still plans a huge festival

• February 22, 2025

Dana Point’s iconic Festival of Whales parade, with its massive helium sea creature balloons, is canceled for this year and will be replaced by a three-day carnival.

The decision to pause the signature event — which has been part of the Festival of Whales since 1971 and typically draws thousands of people — was prompted by construction of a parking structure that is part of Dana Point Harbor’s $550 million makeover.

“We’ve looked at the traffic in the harbor and we couldn’t find a way to make it work,” said Jeff Rosaler, Dana Point’s director of community services.

“Hopefully, the parking structure will be done next year. During the pause, we’ll take a look at how we manage and implement the parade and make it the best it can be for next year.”

While the parade route has shifted over the years — including traveling down Pacific Coast Highway from Selva Road to La Plaza Park — it’s recently been held at the harbor. And Rosaler said reverting it back to PCH poses numerous challenges, including closing the highway on a Saturday and getting the huge parade balloons under the Lantern District archway.

Most recently, the parade — which kicks off the festival — sent a line of high school marching bands, ocean-themed entries, military and local non-profit groups from harbor Island, over the bridge, and then down Dana Point Harbor Drive. A final right turn, onto the Street of the Golden Lantern, took participants to the parking lots at the harbor’s entrance, where about 40 community booths and non-profits set up for the after-party.

“Golden Lantern is shut down to traffic and we’d have a road closure in the middle of our parade,” Rosaler said of the current situation.

The parking structure is the first landside renovation in an overall $550 million harbor project undertaken by the Dana Point Harbor Partners. In 2018, the developers signed a 66-year lease with the county to manage the now 60-year-old harbor.

Other improvements include a new 2,265-slip marina, a boutique-style hotel and surf lodge, and new buildings and public gathering spaces to house some existing and new restaurants and shops. Dana Wharf and its buildings also will get a makeover. The makeover is aimed at turning the harbor — already popular with visitors — into one of the county’s bigger tourist draws.

The Festival of Whales, now in its 54th year, takes place March 7-9.  The event was founded as a tribute to the thousands of gray whales that pass through the region each year during their annual migration between Alaska and lagoons in southern Baja California.  Experts say the marine mammals use the towering rock outcrop near Dana Point Harbor as a navigational point during their two-way migration, making the area an excellent place for whale watching.

The late Don Hansen, considered the father of whale watching in Orange County, started the festival, said his daughter, Donna Kalez, who operates Dana Wharf Sport Fishing and Whale Watching. Kalez, who had participated in the whale parade for decades, said she was especially moved in 2022, when the city of Dana Point paid tribute to her father after his death.

“That was the most memorable, when the city gave my family the float to honor him,” she said.

But the parade has marked other significant milestones in Kalez’ life, such as when she was honored as Citizen of the Year, and the year her father served as Grand Marshall, and the year she and Gisele Anderson — who operates Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari in the harbor — trademarked Dana Point as the Dolphin and Whale Watching Capitol.

“The parade holds a special place in my heart. It’s not just another event but a cherished memory that we will continue,” Kalez said.

And even though the parade is on pause, Kalez said she’s amped about the carnival that Dana Point is staging as a parade alternative.

It will be set up at Lantern Bay Park, just above Dana Point Harbor. Festivities will start at 3 p.m., after most of the daytime festival events wrap up, and end at 10 p.m. There will be a Ferris wheel and other rides, and the Pet Project Foundation, which raises money for the Dana Point and San Clemente animal shelter, will hold its usual beer garden.

“We’re very thankful to the city for stepping up and coming up with this carnival in place of the parade because they know how much the community loves the parade,” Kalez said. “They wanted to put something on that’s even better.”

“I think you’ll find all your favorite nonprofits up at the carnival,” she added.

“And you’ll see me there for sure, just not on the Ferris wheel because I am very scared of heights.”

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: You think ESPN isn’t giving baseball enough attention now? Just wait

• February 22, 2025

The world according to Jim:

• Buried in the coverage of ESPN’s split with Major League Baseball following this season is this nugget from Commissioner Rob Manfred. According to the initial report by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Andrew Marchand, Manfred told the owners in a memo that the league has “not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage.”

In other words, baseball is an afterthought – if it’s even a thought – with the Pat McAfee/Stephen A. Smith engagement farming mechanism that drives much of ESPN’s daytime programming.

But consider this: If ESPN as a rights-holder gives the sport such short shrift, what do you suppose happens when it’s not, beginning in 2026? Here’s a hint: Baseball might go from secondary topic to invisible. …

• Item: The Team That Is Ruining Baseball is 0-2 in the Cactus League.

Comment: We love the start of the exhibition season because it’s a chance to watch baseball again, after a long winter. (And if we’re antsy, how do you think folks in the snow belt feel?) As for the results, if you’re depending on non-roster players and minor leaguers for your schadenfreude, you might want to reconsider. …

• The New York Yankees have rescinded their no-beards policy, some three or four decades after it was outdated. Once again, we wonder what The Boss would have thought. (And no, we don’t mean Springsteen.) …

• But if you look at the contenders who have the best chance to derail a Dodgers repeat, the Yanks’ acquisitions might make them the ones to fear the most. Max Fried bolsters their starting staff (and we’re waiting for Marcus “I’m a starter” Stroman’s head to explode when he’s told to head for the bullpen.) Devin Williams is a lockdown closer. Paul Goldschmidt is a more than adequate replacement for Anthony Rizzo (still unsigned, by the way) at first base. And the underrated move is the acquisition of Cody Bellinger, which will enable the Yankees to move Aaron Judge back to right field and improve their outfield defense.

(And no, this isn’t a reaction to that fateful fly ball Judge took his eye off of in Game 5 of the World Series last October. Bellinger is still that capable a center fielder.) …

• As for National League teams that could impede the Dodgers’ road back to the World Series? Atlanta (with a healthy Ronald Acuña Jr.), the Phillies and the Arizona Diamondbacks (especially after adding Corbin Burnes) are the top three threats. The New York Mets, after signing Juan Soto for a fortune and Pete Alonso for a far smaller one, are No. 4 on this list. …

• Free agent update: We are now a week into spring training, and according to Spotrac’s free agent tracker there are still 73 unsigned players as of Friday afternoon, among them Rizzo, J.D. Martinez, Patrick Corbin and Mark Canha, as well as Joe Kelly, Yasmani Grandal, Alex Verdugo and Alex Wood. Once again, baseball’s veteran middle class is being squeezed.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals – who, we remind you, missed the postseason in 2024 – still haven’t signed anybody. We blaming that one on the Dodgers, too? …

• For those who haven’t been paying a lot of attention, the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference are well into their attempt to divide all the spoils of college athletics.

The goal of the two most powerful of the power conferences to grab four automatic berths each in the next iteration of the College Football Playoff is just the first step. At some point, you can expect those conferences to hold March Madness hostage, as in: “Give us everything we want, or we’ll bolt the NCAA and start our own postseason basketball tournament.”

I mean, what’s to stop them from disassociating themselves from the NCAA, setting their own eligibility and compensation rules, and the like? Those conferences could establish salary caps before Major League Baseball does. …

• As has been noted here before, the one way to solve the madness that is the combination of NIL money and the transfer portal is for the college system to swallow its misgivings and make the players employees, with signed contracts. The major obstacle? Administrators are scared of the potential of a players’ association with teeth. Stay tuned. …

• One thing we are reminded of whenever the Lakers play at home: Lawrence Tanter remains the best public address guy in the business, any venue, any sport. The reason: He’s not a yeller or screamer, as are so many in the business, yet those well modulated tones can generate plenty of energy and excitement. It’s a refreshing antidote in an age where arena and stadium atmospheres are increasingly ear-splitting and overcaffeinated. …

• ESPN – which, surprise, rediscovered hockey when the network regained the rights to the NHL after ignoring it for years – did it right with its coverage of the 4 Nations Face-Off final between the U.S. and Canada. Particularly impressive was the opening segment Thursday night that interspersed clips of the current U.S. team, sitting at their stalls in the dressing room, with Kurt Russell’s recital of the Herb Brooks pregame address to the 1980 U.S. Olympians before the Miracle on Ice, as portrayed in the movie, “Miracle.” (Which was, of course, a Disney production.)

Too bad that speech didn’t work so well this time. …

• And now it can be told: All of that money generated by others’ use of the term three-peat, which was trademarked by Pat Riley more than 25 years ago? Riles never kept a penny of it. According to The Associated Press, he said he donated his share of the royalties to various charities, including those that help military veterans and their families.

Those, he said, “are very minor in comparison to what they deserve.” True. But every penny helps.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

LAFC opens MLS play with a new captain for a new season

• February 22, 2025

Coming into its 30th season, Major League Soccer wants to change how players interact with the referees.

Across the world, match officials are familiar with multiple players getting in their face, arguing or pleading calls that did or did not get made. MLS was no exception. But this year it mandated that only captains are allowed to approach and address referees following key decisions.

Initiating a direct and uninterrupted line of communication, the league hopes, will reduce moments of what it describes as mobbing, which to be fair can be a byproduct of the game’s passion and intensity. Interactions between the officials and players are otherwise encouraged throughout a match.

“I think it’s a clever rule,” said LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo, himself a tenured captain with German club Hannover 96. “Yeah, I actually do think it’s a very good idea.”

Starting with the league opener Saturday at BMO Stadium, when LAFC hosts Minnesota United FC, the punishment for invading the referee’s space? A yellow card for dissent. Cherundolo finds no benefit in arguing calls with a referee. Instead he wants players to quickly switch to the next play and move forward.

“I’m hopeful this will do a lot for the game and keep players focused for the entire 90 minutes,” he said.

On top of whatever ramifications the rule carries across the league and beyond, in the near term it sets up 32-year-old center back Aaron Long, named by Cherundolo as LAFC captain for 2025, to get plenty of face time with the referees through the end of the year.

Like his coach, Long sees no real value in arguing referee decisions, though he often finds himself chatting with the person holding the whistle so the edict from the league won’t be much different in that respect.

Re-signed this offseason through 2027, Long’s third year with LAFC marks his first as captain. He served in that role several times for the U.S. men’s national team, and did the job in 2022 during his last season with the New York Red Bulls prior to joining the Black & Gold as a free agent.

What makes a good captain?

“Authenticity,” Long answered. “Just being yourself out there. Being a guy players can look at and know what they’re going to get. Having some dependability, taking responsibility for situations and I think holding guys to a certain standard.”

It’s the sort of spot Long relishes, which was apparent to Cherundolo as preseason moved along.

At Hannover, Cherundolo was on teams where players voted for a captain and teams where the coaches decided. Entering Year 4 as LAFC’s head coach, the 46-year-old American prefers the latter, using training camp to observe how things naturally shake out within the group.

“A period of observations that come to an obvious conclusion,” Cherundolo said regarding his process for selecting a captain. “Let things play out and observe, and certainly one of the goals of preseason is to find and create a clear hierarchy on the team as far as leadership goes, and to be well balanced, to make sure everybody is included, everybody has a voice, but also to understand that when things are not going well who is going to speak up and who will roll up their sleeves.”

The work fans pay attention to most began Tuesday when Long and his teammates visited frozen-solid Denver, where the Colorado Rapids won 2-1 in the opening leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup’s first-round home-and-away series.

It was Long who connected on the end of a cross by Denis Bouanga late in the match that notched a critical away goal and improved LAFC’s chance of advancing when they conclude at BMO Stadium next week.

Despite being forced to stay in Denver overnight because their charter flight could not depart in the frigid conditions, the group, which sacrificed its off-day Wednesday, still recovered well for the start of the 34-match MLS regular season on Saturday afternoon.

Against Minnesota, which ended last season losing a Western Conference semifinal match to the eventual MLS Cup champion L.A. Galaxy, LAFC will try to stay unblemished on Matchday 1 by winning an eighth straight season opener.

“As a group we’re taking it one game at a time,” Long said. “We have three home games coming up in a row, so just to start this next stretch off now with a win to start the MLS season, if we have that, build some confidence and carry that over into Tuesday, it would be fantastic.”

MLS opener: Minnesota at LAFC

When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: BMO Stadium

TV: FOX (Ch. 11), Apple TV (MLS Season Pass), Apple TV+

​ Orange County Register 

Inmate fatally assaults another inmate in Santa Ana facility

• February 22, 2025

An inmate died on Friday, Feb. 21 after an assault by another inmate in a holding cell at the Intake Release Center in Santa Ana occurred on Feb. 5, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The victim, Juan Vasquez Pulido, 38, was transported to a hospital and put in a medically induced coma. Pulido died Friday.

On Feb. 5, Pulido was in a holding cell waiting to be moved into housing after the Anaheim Police Department arrested him on suspicion of drug related offenses. Another inmate also in the holding cell, 23-year-old Irving Josue Morales, assaulted Pudlio in the cell, according to the OCSD. Pudlio was found by deputies, unconscious, and transported to the hospital.

Morales has been charged with attempted murder, though prosecutors may consider further charges, as a result of Pulido’s death.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office will be investigating the in-custody death and the OCSD will be conducting an in-custody death review.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Saturday, February 22, 2025

• February 22, 2025

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Eddie Wilson, Kevin Modesti and Mark Ratzky. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Saturday, February 22, 2025.

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​ Orange County Register 

Galaxy not looking to rest on their championship season

• February 21, 2025

CARSON — One look at the calendar and it wouldn’t appear as if the Galaxy had enough time to celebrate their MLS Cup championship and recover from last year’s grind of a season.

Diego Fagundez said he did.

“The monkey is finally off of my back,” he said of winning his first MLS Cup. “Like I said last year, we’re here for another ring.

“I think everybody is going to come after us, I think we showed in preseason that know matter who you are, we’re going to fight and take care of business and I think Sunday is a big statement. We did that with (Inter) Miami last year (in the season opener) and this year the same thing.”

Sunday will be the start of Fagundez’s 15th MLS season, his second full season with the Galaxy. It will also be the first season since 2015 that the Galaxy will start as defending MLS champions.

Last year’s run to the franchise’s sixth MLS Cup title was its first since 2014.

With Riqui Puig sidelined after tearing his ACL in the Western Conference final, Gabriel Pec could see his role expand even more. Joseph Paintsil will also be sidelined early as he recovers from a groin injury. That will also mean another expanded role for a player like Fagundez. He filled in last season as Puig was sidelined with a groin injury.

“Now that I have it (the ring), there’s another mindset that I said to myself that I want another one,” Fagundez said. “That’s what we’re working hard for. I feel really good. Coming in from preseason, only having six weeks off, I thought I did the right things to prepare myself.

“It kind of helps when you don’t have to work as hard to get there. You’re kind of already in that mindset. I didn’t really stop. I want to have a big year this year and I said to myself, ‘This could be your year.’ There’s a lot of missing pieces, so it’s time for players to step up and I said to myself that it’s my time to step up and help as much as I can.”

Ahead of this season, some faces have been moved out (Dejan Joveljić, Jalen Neal, Mark Delgado and Gaston Brugman) and some new pieces have been brought in (forward Christian Ramirez, midfielders Elijah Wynder and Lucas Sanabria and forward Matheus Nascimento), but the challenge of repeating is great.

No team has repeated in MLS since the Bruce Arena-coached Galaxy in 2011 and 2012.

“Initially, coming in and being champions, it’s going to be about committing to the new process and starting again,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “The challenges are going to be different in terms of how teams approach us. It’s going to be a different road to success this year.

“We have to continue to build off of the things that we learned about each other and about who we are last year. Integrate some of the new guys and manage each game and each situations appropriately. The challenges are the same every year, it doesn’t, you just have manage them as they come and find the solutions. I think we learned a lot about each other and about ourselves.

“We matured as the season went on. The starting point (this season) in preseason was higher than it was last year because we had more guys who were aware of our system and aware of their roles and responsibilities and have also created relationships on the field that weren’t in the same place last year as they are now. So we need to continue to mature as a team, we need to help integrate the new players into what we’re doing and help them build relationships with guys that have been here to establish timing, rhythm as we start a new journey and new process.”

The biggest challenge will be playing without Puig, who recently returned to L.A. after time home in Barcelona.

“It’s been great to have him around,” Vanney said of Puig. “There’s two parts to this: He has to focus on the things that are going to get him back on the field and if he’s around here all of the time, then he’s using resources for the training room. It’s finding the balance between getting him exactly where he needs to be to make sure he’s taking the steps that he needs to come back at the right time and the right way.

“But the second is having him around the group. His presence is unique and special. He has a great way connecting with players on and off the field and they love to have him around.”

The Galaxy made the big jump from 13th place in 2023 to MLS Cup champions. This season’s schedule will include CONCACAF Champions League play, starting next month, and the Leagues Cup in the summer.

“Everyone will want to beat us every single game,” defender and captain Maya Yoshida said. “We still have to be hungry to accomplish something. We’ve had good preparation so far. I feel much better than year before because we’ve already made our base last season. I’m pretty confident so far.”

​ Orange County Register 

Kings, Doughty take on Utah after 4 Nations Face-Off final

• February 21, 2025

Drew Doughty and Canada conquered the 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday, and now he and the Kings will square off with Utah HC, commencing a three-game homestand on Saturday.

Doughty was a late addition to the squad following an injury to Alex Pietrangelo and a recovery from his own malady, a broken ankle that required surgery. As he always has with the maple leaf emblazoned upon his torso, Doughty came through for his country. He added the first-ever 4 Nations gold medal to quite a heap of precious metals: two Stanley Cups (2012, 2014), two Olympic gold medals (2010, 2014), World Cup of Hockey gold (2016), World Junior gold (2008), a Norris Trophy (2016) and more.

“It’s an amazing feeling – the best, the best, the best feeling,” Doughty told Mayor’s Manor’s John Hoven after the final in Boston. “It’s been a long time since I felt something like that.”

Not only did he add to his overflowing collection of accolades when Connor McDavid’s overtime goal won the tournament for the Canadians, but Doughty contributed the champions’ highest net rating for a defenseman, per The Athletic. That came after playing just six games for the Kings, a trial run that more than satisfied the Canadian brass, who opted to invite Doughty over strong wire-to-wire performers at right defense this season.

It was the first tournament that could even approximate the “best-on-best” energy of the Olympics since 2016’s World Cup of Hockey, which won’t return until 2028. The burning desire of players to represent their countries and compete at that level was highly perceptible, especially as a build-up to next year’s Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy.

For Doughty’s part, he hoped that it would not be his last time skating in red and white.

“I think I played pretty well. I’m still not exactly myself yet, [but I did get] much better. I’m looking forward to making that team next year,” Doughty told Hoven. “I’ve already thought about that, that’s what’s wild.”

Doughty will don black and silver for the seventh time this season on Saturday, when his typical defense partner, Mikey Anderson, should also return after missing four games prior to the break with an apparent hand injury.

Though Doughty was still en route from Boston on Friday, signs pointed to Anderson continuing to play with Vladislav Gavrikov. With Gavrikov on his off side, the alignment left just two right defense spots for Doughty, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence and Kyle Burroughs, though the Kings could opt to dress seven defensemen as they have frequently under coach Jim Hiller.

Opposing them Saturday will be Utah, which will resume play six points back of the final wild-card berth in the West and eight behind the Kings. Emergent from the dysfunctional shadow of the Arizona Coyotes, the relocated franchise has designs on the playoffs, especially now that it’s healthier on defense.

John Marino played for the first time this season in mid-January and now Utah will get another rearguard back as Sean Durzi will face his former team on Saturday. It will be his first action since Oct. 14, when he sustained a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Durzi signed a four-year, $24 million extension over the summer, a year after the Kings traded him for a second-round pick that they flipped to Winnipeg in the Pierre-Luc Dubois deal. Durzi matched his career highs in goals and power-play points last season and set new personal bests in assists, points and plus-minus rating.

Utah at Kings

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV: FDSNW

​ Orange County Register