Teen killed after triggering avalanche in Alaska, where 4 have died in snow slides this month

• March 24, 2025

By MARK THIESSEN

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A teenager has died after triggering an avalanche, the fourth person killed in snow slides in Alaska this month.

Alaska State Troopers said the body of 16-year-old Tucker Challan of Soldotna was recovered from the avalanche Sunday by the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group.

Troopers said a group of snowmachiners were riding Saturday on the backside of Seattle Ridge in Turnagain Pass, a popular winter recreation area about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Anchorage.

“Witnesses stated that a juvenile male triggered an avalanche and died after being buried,” troopers said in a statement.

Challan was buried about 10-feet deep in the slide that measured about 500 feet  wide, said Wendy Wagner, director of the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center.

Conditions are worrisome because a weak layer is located about 3 feet beneath the snow surface, with newer snow falling on top of the weak layer.

Challan rode over a weak layer of snow that was buried under newer snow, about mid-slope, Wagner said.

When the slide happened, the center’s staff was conducting an avalanche awareness day in a parking lot on the other side of Seattle Ridge, she said.

“These types of avalanches, they can be triggered when you’re on this slope. They can be triggered when you’re on the bottom of the slope and even the side or the top of a slope, because all you have to do is break that weak layer, and then that weak layer shoots out like dominoes and breaks into the slopes,” she said.

The weak layer can be broken on a flat track, but that wouldn’t cause an avalanche because there is no slope for the snow to come down.

“When we have avalanche conditions like this, as avalanche professionals, we recommend people just stay on slopes that aren’t steep enough to slide, and then they don’t have to worry about triggering an avalanche, and sadly, this person was not in that scenario,” Wagner said. “They were on the edge of the slope and ended up being caught.”

The avalanche center has been warning people of this weak layer for weeks, and there were similar conditions on March 4, when three heli-skiers were killed. That accident happened when they were caught in an avalanche near Girdwood, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Anchorage.

“It’s still unsafe,” Wagner said Monday. “We are still recommending that people stick to the lower angle slopes because this is not something we want to mess with.”

​ Orange County Register 

Trump administration disregards due process in pursuit of unchecked power

• March 24, 2025

The First Amendment guarantee that protects against government restrictions on press, speech, religion and right of assembly has long been considered the cornerstone of American democracy.

In rejecting British rule nearly 250 years ago, the founding fathers were determined to protect not just the majority view in society. Almost more importantly, they protected minority points of view, even the most offensive.

But just as central to a strong democracy is the Fifth Amendment protection of “due process” which ensures that all individuals cannot be deprived of “life, liberty or property” without fair and just legal procedures taking place first. The 14th Amendment extends the same Fifth Amendment rights to the states.

But due process is a concept President Donald J. Trump seemingly rejects. In Trump’s world, there are only good guys and bad guys. And if you are a bad guy (read suspected undocumented immigrant), you don’t deserve due process.

There is wide agreement among Americans that particularly those who are not legally in the country and have committed crimes should be deported. In his campaign, Trump promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, but especially criminals.  At its current pace, the U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Service is headed toward deporting only 250,000 in the first year of his second term.

To increase the pace, the administration decided to take unprecedented shortcuts. Citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the administration unilaterally declared more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members in the country to be terrorists and flew them to El Salvador to be held in a notorious prison. There is no indication any of the deportees received a hearing that confirmed they were in the country illegally or that they were terrorists.

The president insists he has the right to take such action and has no obligation to provide proof that they committed crimes in the United States or deserved any kind of hearing.

While anyone “proven” to be in the country illegally can be deported, there is no basis for sending them to a foreign prison. At a minimum, these individuals deserved a hearing before an administrative judge.

And just last weekend the administration also halted contracts for legal representation at immigration hearings for 26,000 unaccompanied immigrant children said to be in the country illegally.

Tens of thousands of federal employees have been fired or laid off without legally-required hearings or other actions required under Civil Service rules or the Administrative Procedures Act. Many of those layoffs and firings have been challenged in the federal courts.

Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also wiped out three agencies: The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsmen and the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsmen.  A total of 300 employees from these agencies will be terminated within 60 days unless they can find a job elsewhere in DHS.

What the first two agencies have in common is that they advocate for the legal rights of suspected undocumented immigrants and investigate complaints about detention, treatment and conditions under which potential deportees are held before being removed from the country. Wiping out the third agency will slow the processing of green cards and citizenship applications for those seeking them.

Perhaps we must give the department credit for transparency. In a news release announcing the cuts, DHS said the three departments “have obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS’s mission.”

There is a clear pattern that due process is viewed by this Administration as unimportant or unnecessary when it gets in the way of an Administration goal.  I guess due process and ensuring one’s rights is a “bureaucratic hurdle,” but it is central to a strong democracy. If it is undocumented immigrants and civil servants who are the targets today, who is the next target?

All this is part of Trump’s view of an imperial presidency in which he can do whatever he wants. The U.S. Supreme Court will be the ultimate arbiter if he has the power that he thinks he does.

Bob Rawitch is a former L.A. Times editor and chair of the First Amendment Coalition.

​ Orange County Register 

UC abandons its ‘diversity statement’ requirement for faculty

• March 24, 2025

It’s likely that most Californians have never heard of the Levering Act, passed by the California Legislature in 1950, but it symbolized the state’s political orientation in the post-World War II era.

As the Cold War flared, anti-communist furor was sweeping the nation, most dramatically in Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy’s crusade to weed out what he said were sympathizers with and agents for the Soviet Union that had infiltrated the federal government and other institutions.

Named for the state legislator who carried it, Harold Levering, the law required all state employees to take a loyalty oath that disavowed left-wing political beliefs and was aimed specifically at University of California faculty members.  In fact, 31 tenured UC professors refused to sign the required loyalty oaths and were fired.

By and by, the law was challenged in court as an unconstitutional abridgement of public employees’ rights — which, of course it was. The California State Teachers Association condemned it, rightfully, as “a political test for employment.”

For many years afterward, the UC Board of Regents declared that “no political test shall ever be considered in the appointment and promotion of any faculty member or employee.” However, in recent years, citing a “commitment to diversity and excellence,” UC officials have told faculty recruiters that, as one directive put it, they must take “pro-active steps to seek out candidates committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

To enforce that policy, UC began requiring applicants for faculty employment and promotion to submit  “diversity statements.” At UC Davis, for instance, tenure-track faculty applicants were told they should demonstrate “an accomplished track record … of teaching, research or service activities addressing the needs of African-American, Latino, Chicano, Hispanic and Native American students or communities” and their statements must “indicate awareness” of those communities and “the negative consequences of underutilization” and “provide a clearly articulated vision” of how their work at UC-Davis would advance diversity policies.

UC officials said the requirement would help underrepresented ethnic and racial groups achieve parity, but critics labeled it an obvious political litmus test that would compel applicants to conform to a political policy whether they agreed with it or not.

In effect, in the name of diversity UC was prohibiting diversity of thought by demanding an oath of loyalty to a designated left-leaning political policy just as the Levering Act had demanded fealty to a right-leaning political policy.

What’s questionable is not DEI, but rather UC’s insistence on requiring a signed document supporting the concept, which is truly a violation of free speech and academic freedom.

There’s nothing to prevent UC from, in its employment interviews, learning about an applicant’s history of inclusion, but that’s not a document like a loyalty oath. Moreover, reasonable people can disagree whether DEI policies are the appropriate pathway to equity or if they generate resentment that impedes equity.

This debate over UC’s rigid policy has raged for years inside the system and outside, particularly in academic journals.

Enter Donald Trump, who has declared war on “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies in academic, governmental and corporate institutions and threatened a loss of federal funds to those who maintain DEI programs.

This week, UC abandoned its diversity statement requirement.

“The requirement to submit a diversity statement may lead applicants to focus on an aspect of their candidacy that is outside their expertise or prior experience,” Katherine S. Newman, UC provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, told campus provosts in a letter.

“The regents stated that our values and commitment to our mission have not changed,” the letter continued. “We can continue to effectively serve our communities from a variety of life experiences, backgrounds, and points of view without requiring diversity statements.”

UC can and should pursue diversity in its faculty hires, not only in race or gender but also in intellectual leanings. However, ill-disguised political loyalty tests are as loathsome today as they were 75 years ago when the Levering Act was passed.

It’s beyond ironic that it took Donald Trump, who in many ways emulates Joe McCarthy’s witchhunts, to undo something that UC should never have done in the first place.

Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.

​ Orange County Register 

Epic Universe brings track-jumping Donkey Kong coaster to U.S. for first time

• March 24, 2025

The Super Nintendo World coming to Epic Universe will feature the first version of a track-jumping Donkey Kong coaster in the United States while much of the rest of the video game themed land will look familiar to Universal Studios Hollywood fans.

The new Mine-Cart Madness boom coaster will serve as the centerpiece of Donkey Kong Country when Super Nintendo World opens this summer at the newest Universal theme park in Orlando, Florida.

ALSO SEE: Everything you need to know about Universal Epic Universe

The new $7 billion Universal Epic Universe theme park will open on May 22 just before Memorial Day Weekend with more than 50 rides, attractions, shows and experiences.

Super Nintendo World will be one of five themed lands in the 750-acre Epic Universe that will also include Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk, Dark Universe and Celestial Park.

ALSO SEE: Celestial Park will serve as Epic Universe’s futuristic central hub

Mine-Cart Madness made its debut in December as part of the Donkey Kong Country expansion of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan.

The backstory for Mine-Cart Madness finds riders helping Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong protect the coveted Golden Banana from the thieving Tiki Tak Tribe during a race through the majestic Golden Temple.

ALSO SEE: First look at Ministry of Magic dark ride coming to Epic Universe

The thrilling family coaster blasts out of a barrel, careens through a jungle, jumps across gaps in a rickety track and performs other eye-popping feats from Donkey Kong video games.

Universal’s Boom Coaster features a false track with a hidden track underneath that creates the illusion of the coaster trains jumping over missing portions of the track.

ALSO SEE: Dragons will meet fans, breathe fire and fly over Epic Universe

Universal applied for a U.S. patent in 2016 for the innovative ride system concept that featured a ride vehicle with a hidden leg that extended below a simulated surface to the real track below.

The Super Nintendo World coming to Epic Universe will be more like the larger version of the land at Universal Studios Japan than the more compact model at Universal Studios Hollywood.

ALSO SEE: First look at Dark Universe monster land coming to Epic Universe

Epic Universe’s Nintendo land will feature the Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge augmented reality racing simulator ride found at the California park as well as the Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness coaster and Yoshi’s Adventure omnimover-style attraction at the Japan park.

Like all Super Nintendo Worlds, visitors will be able to meet characters like Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach as well as engage in video game-style interactive experiences throughout the land.

ALSO SEE: Disney World braces for ‘small impact’ from Epic Universe opening

The Epic Universe land will also include Nintendo-themed restaurants (Toadstool Cafe, Yoshi’s Snack Island, Turbo Boost Treats and Bubbly Barrel) and shops (1-Up Factory, Mario Motors and Funky’s Fly ‘n’ Buy).

An enormous Donkey Kong meet-and-greet character will pose for photos with fans at Donkey Kong’s Treehouse.

A fourth Super Nintendo World themed land is planned for Universal Studios Singapore.

​ Orange County Register 

Yosemite National Park: Caltrans announces opening date for road closed by huge rockslide

• March 24, 2025

Crews have made significant progress clearing a major rockslide that closed one of the primary routes into Yosemite National Park last week, reducing fears of a long-term disruption just as warmer weather is starting to increase the number of visitors to the park.

Hundreds of tons of rocks came crashing down last Monday night across both lanes of Highway 140, a scenic winding route along the Merced River between the town of Mariposa and Yosemite’s Arch Rock entrance.

Now at least one lane of the highway — which is one of the two main routes into Yosemite for most Northern Californians — is expected to be open by the end of this week, said Brian Hooker, a Caltrans spokesman.

“Crews are working 24-7,” he said. “They are making good progress.”

The slide closed about two miles of Highway 140 in both directions between Yosemite Cedar Lodge and Briceburg, 10 miles west of El Portal.

On Thursday, Caltrans geologists investigated the area and flew drones to take 3-D images of the steep cliffs above the road. They were trying to find loose boulders and other material that might still collapse onto the roadway.

Friday and Saturday, using that information, crews from a specialty contractor, Neil’s Controlled Blasting, based in Placer County, used an aerial lift to move workers up to 130 feet high on the sheer cliffs. Some workers rappelled on the cliff with ropes.

They fitted large industrial pillows, like air bags on a car, behind the suspended loose rocks, and inflated them with compressors, Hooker said, causing the unstable geology to fall down on the roadway below.

“For safety reasons, they had to remove those materials before we could get the main contractor working on the debris on the road,” he said.

On Sunday, that contractor, Teichert Construction, based in Sacramento, began using trucks, front loaders and other equipment to start hauling away the main pile blocking both lanes. That work should take several days, Hooker said.

“There is damage to the roadway,” he added. “There are going to be repairs needed before we can put the traveling public back there. But things are moving along at a good pace.”

Until the road is open, Bay Area residents have one main route into the park — Highway 120 through Groveland. A longer way from the south is also possible, on Highway 41 through Oakhurst.

For daily updates, visitors should check Caltrans site before heading to the park: Quickmap.dot.ca.gov.

Hooker said engineers on the job believe that the cold weather in recent weeks, which dropped snow levels lower than normal, froze water that had accumulated in cracks on the cliffs. That ice expanded, causing the rockslide, he said.

Local tourism leaders and residents of Mariposa County were happy Monday to hear that the big slide won’t close the road for weeks or months, as some in the past have.

“It’s fantastic news,” said Jonathan Farrington, executive director of the Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau. “Caltrans is very professional working through situations like this and understanding the importance of all the major routes into Yosemite National Park.”

Highway 140 is one of the most colorful highways in California.

In the first few decades after President Abraham Lincoln set aside Yosemite Valley for preservation in 1864, visitors who wanted to see the park’s waterfalls, granite cliffs and other breathtaking wonders took treacherous two-day horse wagon rides, then trips in early automobiles, across steep, unpaved mountain grades on the Big Oak Flat and Wawona roads to Yosemite Valley and other sites. The routes were impassable in snow.

Then in 1907, the journey became much more comfortable when the Yosemite Valley Railroad opened. Investors built tracks along the Merced River, across the river from where Highway 140 is today. Visitors could enjoy a three-and-a-half-hour journey by rail up the Merced River Canyon from Merced to El Portal, just outside what is now Yosemite’s Arch Rock Entrance.

Everything changed in 1926 when Highway 140 was built along the other side of the Merced River. The road, nicknamed “The All Weather Highway,” allowed motorists to easily drive to Yosemite at all times of the year.

The railroad’s passenger revenue fell 38% the following year. And although it still had some high times — President Franklin Roosevelt rode it to the park in 1938 — it failed to make up for the losses and by 1945 closed.

The tracks were sold for scrap. The dusty railroad bed can still be seen by motorists driving along Highway 140 today.

Other slides have come off the steep cliffs. In 2006, more than 300,000 tons of rocks slid off Ferguson Ridge, closing Highway 140 for years. Caltrans built a temporary bridge and detour across the river which is still used today. The agency has removed the enormous pile of rocks, and plans to build a rock shed — basically covering the road with a strong roof — for 675 feet starting later this year.

Farrington noted that another rock slide closed Highway 120 into Yosemite National Park last year. In fact, many of Yosemite’s spectacular rock features, including Yosemite Valley itself, were carved out by ice, more specifically glaciers, over millions of years.

“These types of events do happen,” he said. “It’s a geologically active region. Mother Nature is a busy gal.”

​ Orange County Register 

A Cornell student suing the Trump administration is asked to surrender to immigration authorities

• March 24, 2025

By MICHAEL HILL and JAKE OFFENHARTZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A Cornell University student who sued the Trump administration because he feared it would try to deport him for participating in pro-Palestinian protests has been asked to surrender to immigration authorities.

Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student in Africana studies, got a notice Friday telling him to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to his attorneys. The agency didn’t set a deadline.

Taal, 31, filed a lawsuit March 15 seeking to block enforcement of executive orders by President Donald Trump that have led to a growing crackdown on international students who participated in campus protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Taal is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia.

Some students and faculty have had their visas revoked or been blocked from entering the U.S. because they attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians in the conflict with Israel.

In one of the most high-profile cases, the Justice Department detained a Columbia University graduate student, Mahmoud Khalil, and told him his green card was being revoked because of his participation in protests.

The government has also detained a scholar at Georgetown University and refused to let a professor at Brown University’s medical school enter the U.S.

In a court filing, U.S. Department of Justice lawyers said Taal’s student visa had also been revoked, even before he filed his lawsuit, but ICE agents had trouble locating him.

The revocation is based on Taal’s alleged involvement in “disruptive protests,” disregarding university policies and creating a hostile environment for Jewish students, the government said.

An attorney for Taal, Eric Lee, said Monday that his client is not being required to surrender before Tuesday’s scheduled hearing on the lawsuit in Syracuse.

Taal was suspended from Cornell for a second time last fall after a group of pro-Palestinian activists disrupted a campus career fair. He has limited access to the upstate New York campus as he continues his studies remotely.

In his lawsuit, Taal and his co-plaintiffs argue that Trump’s executive orders violate the free speech rights of international students and scholars. Taal claims he was at the career fair protest for five minutes and had faced no criminal charges.

“If the First Amendment does not protect the right to attend a demonstration, what’s left?” Lee said. “Not much.”

In the case involving Khalil, government lawyers filed new paperwork saying that besides participating in protests, Khalil had not disclosed his past work with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and his continued employment with the British embassy for Syria, based in Beirut. They also said he did not disclose his involvement with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition group of anti-Israel student organizations.

Ramzi Kassem, an attorney for Khalil, called the allegations “plainly thin,” noting the government would have to prove any omission was both willful and materially important.

“It’s very obviously a rearguard action to shore up their immigration case,” he said. “This doesn’t change the fact that this is still a case about Mr. Khalil’s pro-Palestinian speech and the fact that the government doesn’t like it.”

The Trump administration had previously also argued that Khalil’s prominent role in the Columbia University protests amounted to antisemitic support for Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. Khalil, who received his master’s degree from Columbia’s school of international affairs last semester, served as a negotiator for students as they bargained with university officials over an end to the tent encampment erected on campus last spring.

The administration’s argument rests on a seldom-invoked legal statute that authorizes the secretary of state to revoke the visa of any noncitizen whose presence in the United States could be considered a threat to the country’s foreign-policy interests.

Hill reported from Albany, New York.

​ Orange County Register 

Kings face Rangers looking to extend hot streak on home ice

• March 24, 2025

The Kings have hit their stride at the right time.

After putting up 14 goals in two games from 10 different scorers, they’ll turn their attention to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

In addition to establishing a franchise-record home points streak and having won eight of their past nine games overall, the Kings have reached unseen levels of not only scoring but scoring balance. All 12 forwards recorded a point in Saturday’s 7-2 stampeding of the Carolina Hurricanes and 11 attackers hit the score sheet the following day as the Kings won by an identical score, firing in five unanswered goals to further fetter the fading Boston Bruins.

The Kings had scored seven goals in a game just twice this season, in an overtime loss at Ottawa in the nascent stages of the campaign and during Dec. 14’s 7-3 win in Philadelphia. They just did so twice at home in one weekend, shooting a staggering 29.2% in the process.

Their 14 goals in two calendar days were more than they scored during an eight-game stretch that concluded January and kicked off February with a 4-2 win at Carolina after the Kings mustered just nine goals in seven prior outings.

“One week, we don’t get that many (goals) and then they all come at once. I mean, it’s nice for everybody’s confidence, all the lines, all the D, everybody’s going, obviously that feels good in the locker room,” said Adrian Kempe, who had a goal and two assists over the weekend. “It’s two games, you never know what’s gonna happen next game. We’ve been creative, maybe the bounces we get now we didn’t get earlier in the season. That’s just how hockey is.”

Kempe’s linemate Andrei Kuzmenko also notched three points in the two matches, his first three as a King after being acquired from Philly at the trade deadline. Kuzmenko’s ability to recover pucks and carve out space were evident, and now the tangible production has arrived. Kempe praised his communicativeness, despite something of a language barrier for the Russian national, and was enthused by how the newest “A.K.” was integrating himself with Kempe and captain Anže Kopitar.

The main event up front, however, has been Quinton Byfield, with his success extending through the weekend (two goals, two assists) but dating back to at least Feb. 1. Since then, he has 21 points in 20 appearances and  a +16 rating, both of which lead the Kings. His plus-minus rating is tied for the second best in the entire NHL during that time, trailing only former King Matt Roy and, ironically, sitting tied with another one-time cohort, Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Warren Foegele, who scored his 20th goal of the campaign in his 500th career game on Sunday, works out with Byfield in Canada during the offseason.

“I was saying it in the summer, when I was training with him, that I thought he was going to have a big year. What we’ve seen over these last (20) games, offensively, he’s taking that next step,” Foegele said of Byfield, 2020’s No. 2 overall pick. “He’s such a big, powerful skater with a great mind. I think the biggest thing is probably confidence. You’re seeing him shoot the puck a lot more.”

The Rangers will have familiar faces in their traveling party but it’s possible neither will see the ice. Winger and Staten Islander Arthur Kaliyev landed in Midtown Manhattan after the Kings waived him, but later sustained a second serious upper-body injury. He missed a substantial part of 2024-25 with a broken clavicle and now will not play again until next season.

Kings icon Jonathan Quick recently signed a one-year extension with the Rangers to continue backing up Igor Shesterkin in goal. Quick played both games against the Kings last season, but only made 11 saves in relief after Shesterkin got the call in the only other meeting this season with the Kings, who prevailed 5-1 at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 14.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump will nominate acting CDC director Susan Monarez for the position, White House official says

• March 24, 2025

By SEUNG MIN KIM and AMANDA SEITZ, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will nominate Dr. Susan Monarez, the acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to the job, a White House official confirmed Monday.

Trump abruptly withdrew the nomination of his first pick, David Weldon, earlier this month.

Monarez has been serving as the CDC’s acting director since January. She came from another federal government agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.

In a social media post, Trump said that Monarez will work closely with his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“As an incredible mother and dedicated public servant, Dr. Monarez understands the importance of protecting our children, our communities, and our future,” Trump said in the post on Monday afternoon. “Americans have lost confidence in the CDC due to political bias and disastrous mismanagement.”

Earlier this month, the White House withdrew the nomination of Weldon, a former Florida congressman, to lead the CDC. Weldon told the media his nomination was withdrawn because “there were not enough votes to get me confirmed.”

Weldon was closely aligned with Kennedy, who for years has been one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine activists.

The CDC is based in Atlanta and has a $9.2 billion core budget. It was created nearly 80 years ago to prevent the spread of malaria in the U.S. Its mission was later expanded, and it gradually became a global leader on infectious and chronic diseases and a go-to source of health information.

​ Orange County Register